Support
Euro and pound face setbacks
Economic data sends the euro, and the pound lower and Oil prices recover losses
The U.S. dollar index stabilized near 102.32, shrugging off Federal Reserve governor Michelle Bowman's comments.
The euro slipped to $1.0940, following an unexpected 0.7% decline in German industrial production for November.
Oil prices rebounded with Brent crude climbing nearly 2% to $77.68 and WTI reaching $72.50
On the Market Watch!
In currencies
The U.S. dollar index remained steady at 102.32, after rising 1% last week, the greenback shrugged off comments from Federal Reserve governor Michelle Bowman that she sees the current monetary policy as “sufficiently restrictive” and shared her willingness to endorse interest rate cuts as inflation shows signs of easing.
Meanwhile, the euro slipped to $1.0940 after German industrial production unexpectedly fell by 0.7% in November, being the 6th monthly decline. The month-on-month German industrial production dropped to -0.7% vs estimates of 0.4% and its previous reading of -0.3%.
The pound also dipped slightly by 0.1% to $1.2727 after 4 consecutive days of gains. Investors will be closely eyeing the release of GDP data for November.
The USD/JPY continued to fall to 144.02 after Tokyo’s inflation dropped closer to the BOJ’s 2% target.
Tokyo's consumer price index slowed annually to 2.4% in December compared to 2.6% in November, while the core index fell from 3.6% to 3.5%.
Oil prices
Oil prices recovered gains by $1 after falling sharply overnight by 4%. Prices had fallen earlier on rising OPEC supply. Brent crude rose almost 2% to $77.68 while WTI rose to $72.50.
The closure of Libya’s largest oil field had initially given some support to prices recently as local protests led to the shutdown of production at the Sharara oil field, capable of producing up to 300,000 barrels per day. The shutdown drove up oil prices almost 5% at the first week of the month.
