“Close-Call-Fed-lift-off” pressured USD – FXStreet

By FXStreet FXStreet (Guatemala) – Valeria Bednarik, chief analyst at FXStreet explained that the EUR/USD pair see-sawed between gains and losses for most of this Wednesday, although the dollar traded generally higher across the forex board, during the first half of the day.

Key Quotes:

“More bad news coming from China spurred risk sentiment, leading to a strong rally in gold, and more slides in crude, with the commodity reaching fresh multi-year lows as Chinese services sector grew at its weakest pace for 17 months in December, printing 50.2 from a previous 5.2. In the EU however, Markit reported strong gains in the services sector during December, whilst the PPI fell further lower, posting an awful -3.2% yearly basis. In the US however, news were pretty encouraging, with the ADP private survey showing that the economy added 257K new jobs in December, whilst the trade balance’s deficit is down to $42.40B in the same month.

Anyway, the dollar came under some selling pressure in the American afternoon, following the release of the latest FOMC Minutes, showing that the lift-off was a “close call,” with almost all officials agreeing on economic conditions having been met in December. The EUR/USD surged to its …read more

Source:: FX Street