What you need to take care of on Tuesday, February 28: The US Dollar started the week extending its positive momentum from last week, although demand
What you need to take care of on Tuesday, February 28:
The US Dollar started the week extending its positive momentum from last week, although demand for the American currency faded ahead of the US opening, following a mixed United States Durable Goods Orders report. US Durable Goods Orders fell by 4.5% MoM in January, worse than anticipated, although the core reading was slightly better than anticipated. Pending Home Sales, on the other hand, rose 8.1% in the same month, beating expectations.
Meanwhile, European Central Bank officials repeated their hawkish rhetoric, reaffirming a 50 bps rate hike in March. Their US Federal Reserve counterparts, also lifted the bets, claiming they will do more if inflation does not come back down.
Overall, market players seemed a bit more relaxed, but inflation and growth concerns continue to affect the market mood.
The EUR/USD pair recovered the 1.0600 threshold, as despite poor US figures, Wall Street ended the day with gains. The positive tone of equities weighed on the Greenback.
The UK and the EU have agreed to amend the Northern Ireland protocol. In a joint press conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a new “Windsor framework,” a decisive breakthrough to end uncertainty in Northern Ireland. The deal still needs to be approved but helped GBP/USD to remain afloat, with the pair currently trading around 1.2050.
AUD/USD flirted with the 0.6700 level, bouncing to end the day pretty much unchanged around 0.7635. Australian Retail Sales are coming up early Tuesday. The USD/CAD pair is down to 1.3580, while USD/JPY ended the day with modest losses around 136.20
Gold trades below $1,820 a troy ounce after falling to a fresh 2023 low of $1,806.52. Crude oil prices edged lower, with WTI now trading at $75.65 a barrel.
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