020 7898 0500Friday was a very positive day for the US dollar on, as American Core inflation data grew to highs that have not been seen for nearly a year. This was a very positive figure for the US economy, which has been struggling with low inflation due to the low oil price. As a result of this, the American currency strengthened against both sterling and the euro – touching the 1.54 level with sterling and the 1.10 level with the euro.
With various US Federal Reserve members speaking throughout this week, the first big data releases will be on Tuesday, following Bank Holiday Monday in the UK. Durable Goods orders and the Conference Board’s (CB) Consumer Confidence are both expected to show slight increases on the previous month. Wednesday will see the start of the G7 meetings, which continue until Friday. Discussions here are likely to be centred around the current sanctions, and situation with Russia. The weekly unemployment claims are also due on Wednesday, with another strong figure predicted.
The biggest release of the week will be on Friday, with an update to the first quarter growth figures. Expectation is that the US economy will have contracted in the first quarter of the year – mirroring the first quarter of 2014. This is expected to back up recent talks that the US economy has experienced a slowdown.
