Currency Note US Dollar

US dollar strengthens as fears of Syrian concerns mounts

By Ricky Bean August 30th, 2013

Developments in Syria helped the US dollar to strengthen through the course of the week in spite of mixed data being released. As the threat of military action looms (although this threat subsided somewhat yesterday), investors have been looking to what are seen as the safer currencies – of which the US dollar is one – in order to minimise their risk. As such, we have seen the US dollar make decent gains against most of its partners throughout the course of the week. Data from the country this week has been mixed, with pending home sales and core durable goods orders being behind estimates, while consumer confidence and preliminary GDP came in ahead of predictions. Following the Federal Open Market Committees (FOMC) minutes released last week, all data becomes important as it influences the possibility of the Federal Reserve tapering its quantitative easing program, which many feel may well commence as early as next month. As such, the comments coming from the speech made by one of the members of the FOMC today may well influence the market. Furthermore, we have consumer sentiment figures, inflation data and personal spending data released. Get in touch with your trader now for the latest rates on the US dollar, as both internal and external factors affect it.