Dollar rises with FOMC minutes in focus
The dollar gains momentum ahead of the FOMC meeting minutes and as treasury yields continue rebounding.
The EUR/USD pair weakened below 1.0950, indicating a bearish trend.
The German labor market showed resilience with a smaller-than-expected rise in unemployment change.
Germany’s manufacturing PMI rose to an 8-month high in December.
On the Market Watch!
The dollar
The US dollar stabilized close to its two-week peak during early European trading today as US Treasury yields rebounded helping the greenback to gain 1% on Tuesday.
Investors are gearing up for the FOMC meeting minutes later in the day, which appears to be a positive shift working in favor of the US dollar.
In other currencies, the Sterling edged lower in the European session after falling sharply yesterday as the greenback clapped back. The pound was last seen trading near 1.2729. The EUR/USD pair also weakened below 1.0950 confirming downward pressure, particularly as the 20 and 50 SMA’s are about to cross.
Germany’s unemployment
From the data side, German unemployment change rose by 5,000 compared to the estimate of 20,000. Pointing to the resilience of the German labor market despite on-going recession concerns.
The unemployment rate on the other hand rose to 5.9% from the revised 5.8%. Additionally, Germany’s manufacturing PMI rose to an 8-month high in December, at 43.3 vs 43.1 expected and previous. The PMI is widely used as a measure of overall business conditions, incorporating factors such as new orders, output, employment, supplier delivery times, and stocks of purchases to provide insights into the economic health and performance. Still the Eurozone's outlook remains particularly dim with sluggish economic data and policy tightening in 2023.