020 7898 0500Following on from the US dollar’s worst January performance for 30 years, the currency had a poor start to the week, losing ground against most of its trading partners as the market continues to swing on President Trump’s comments.
This week Trump complained that every ‘other country lives on devaluation’, while the US is sat by ‘like a bunch of dummies’.
We had a fairly uneventful Federal Reserve meeting on Wednesday, with no change as was widely expected. Further interest rate rises this year are very much on the cards and we should expect similar increases in 2018 and 2019.
There was a positive tone from the labour market, with data releases beating market estimates. ADP non-farm labour data came out much better than expected, whilst unemployment claims fell again and remain below the 300,000 mark for the 100th straight week, hitting 246,000 versus expectations of 251,000.
Today the week ends with the vital non-farm payrolls data. Then the markets can enjoy a brief rest before looking forward to a third week of President Trump.
