U.S. housing starts fell to more than 2-year low Focus on Powell...

  1. 184,653 Posts.
    lightbulb Created with Sketch. 2711
    • U.S. housing starts fell to more than 2-year low
    • Focus on Powell testimony
    • Graphic: World FX rates in 2019 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh

    (Updates prices, adds comment, FX table, changes byline, dateline, previous LONDON)

    The dollar fell to a three-week low on Tuesday, with investors cautious ahead of a key testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell later in the session, in which he might provide further clues about the direction of future interest rates.

    Powell will testify before the Senate Banking Committee on the first day of a two-day appearance before lawmakers. Market watchers expect him to underline the Fed's sensitivity to asset prices and deliver an upbeat assessment of domestic growth prospects.

    "The key focus of the market will be on whether Mr. Powell will deviate from his dovish stance," said Boris Schlossberg, managing director of FX strategy, at BK Asset Management in New York.

    "This appears unlikely as the history of Fed policy changes suggests that it will stick to an easing course to engineer a soft landing of the economy before resuming normalization," he added.

    Money markets have ruled out any more rate hikes for the remainder of the year with an 80 percent probability of a rate cut by January, 2020.

    A report, meanwhile, showing U.S. housing starts fell to a more than two-year low in December did not help the dollar's cause, further affirming expectations that Powell will maintain his dovish views.

    Data showed housing starts dropped 11.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.078 million units last month, the weakest reading since September 2016.

    Against a basket of other currencies .DXY , the dollar was down 0.1 percent at 96.34, after earlier hitting a three-week trough of 96.253.

    The dollar was also down 0.2 percent versus the yen at 110.74 JPY= .

    	======================================================== 
    	Currency bid prices at 9:34AM (1434 GMT) 
    
     Description	  RIC		 Last		   U.S. Close  Pct Change	 YTD Pct	 High Bid	Low Bid 
    											  Previous				   Change				  
    											  Session											
     Euro/Dollar	  EUR=		$1.1364		$1.1358	 +0.05%		 -0.93%	  +1.1375	 +1.1345 
     Dollar/Yen	   JPY=		110.7500	   111.0600	-0.28%		 +0.44%	  +111.0800   +110.6700 
     Euro/Yen		 EURJPY=	 125.86		 126.11	  -0.20%		 -0.29%	  +126.2200   +125.7400 
     Dollar/Swiss	 CHF=		1.0003		 1.0006	  -0.03%		 +1.93%	  +1.0013	 +0.9995 
     Sterling/Dollar  GBP=		1.3169		 1.3095	  +0.57%		 +3.23%	  +1.3237	 +1.3091 
     Dollar/Canadian  CAD=		1.3222		 1.3188	  +0.26%		 -3.04%	  +1.3236	 +1.3185 
     Australian/Doll  AUD=		0.7153		 0.7165	  -0.17%		 +1.48%	  +0.7173	 +0.7143 
     ar																							  
    
     Euro/Swiss	   EURCHF=	 1.1368		 1.1364	  +0.04%		 +1.01%	  +1.1379	 +1.1352 
     Euro/Sterling	EURGBP=	 0.8626		 0.8674	  -0.55%		 -3.98%	  +0.8676	 +0.8589 
     NZ			   NZD=		0.6881		 0.6882	  -0.01%		 +2.44%	  +0.6888	 +0.6872 
     Dollar/Dollar																				   
    
     Dollar/Norway	NOK=		8.5845		 8.5961	  -0.13%		 -0.63%	  +8.6253	 +8.5815 
     Euro/Norway	  EURNOK=	 9.7552		 9.7630	  -0.08%		 -1.52%	  +9.7879	 +9.7547 
     Dollar/Sweden	SEK=		9.3099		 9.3066	  +0.08%		 +3.86%	  +9.3291	 +9.2999 
     Euro/Sweden	  EURSEK=	 10.5820		10.5737	 +0.08%		 +3.10%	  +10.5980	+10.5710 
    	<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
    G10FX	http//tmsnrt.rs/2BVfajO 
    
    	^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>                    
 
arrow-down-2 Created with Sketch. arrow-down-2 Created with Sketch.