Here is what you need to know on Friday, May 31:
Following the choppy action seen on Thursday, major currency pairs hold steady early Friday as investors gear up for key data releases. Eurostat will publish the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) and the US Bureau of Economic Analysis will release the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index for May. First-quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data from Canada will also be watched closely by investors.
Although safe-haven flows continued to dominate the financial markets on Thursday, the US Dollar (USD) struggled to gather strength against its rivals as US Treasury bond yields corrected lower. After rising 0.5% on Wednesday, the USD Index fell 0.35% on Thursday before settling slightly below 105.00 early Friday.
US core PCE inflation set to steady as Federal Reserve rate cut for September hangs in the balance.
US Dollar PRICE This week
The table below shows the percentage change of US Dollar (USD) against listed major currencies this week. US Dollar was the strongest against the Euro.
| USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | CAD | AUD | NZD | CHF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD | 0.22% | 0.16% | -0.08% | -0.04% | -0.18% | -0.23% | -1.09% | |
| EUR | -0.22% | -0.08% | -0.27% | -0.25% | -0.46% | -0.54% | -1.27% | |
| GBP | -0.16% | 0.08% | -0.24% | -0.20% | -0.37% | -0.40% | -1.22% | |
| JPY | 0.08% | 0.27% | 0.24% | 0.00% | -0.12% | -0.06% | -1.04% | |
| CAD | 0.04% | 0.25% | 0.20% | -0.00% | -0.16% | -0.19% | -1.11% | |
| AUD | 0.18% | 0.46% | 0.37% | 0.12% | 0.16% | -0.00% | -0.86% | |
| NZD | 0.23% | 0.54% | 0.40% | 0.06% | 0.19% | 0.00% | -0.87% | |
| CHF | 1.09% | 1.27% | 1.22% | 1.04% | 1.11% | 0.86% | 0.87% |
The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the US Dollar from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the Japanese Yen, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent USD (base)/JPY (quote).
During the Asian trading hours, the data from China showed that the NBS Manufacturing PMI declined to 49.5 in May from 50.4 in April. In the same period, NBS Non-Manufacturing PMI ticked down to 51.1 from 51.2. These readings failed to trigger an immediate reaction. At the time of press, AUD/USD was trading marginally higher on the day at 0.6640.
Retail Sales in Germany declined 1.2% on a monthly basis in April, Germany's Destatis reported early Friday. This print followed the 2.6% expansion recorded in March and came in weaker than the market expectation for a 0.1% decline. EUR/USD largely ignored these data and was last seen fluctuating in a tight channel above 1.0800.
Eurozone Inflation Release: Lower price pressures expected, Euro could suffer.
After rising sharply on Wednesday, USD/CAD turned south and closed the day in negative territory below 1.3700 on Thursday. The pair continues to edge lower toward 1.3650 in the European morning on Friday. Canada's real GDP is forecast to expand at an annual rate of 2.2%.
USD/JPY lost more than 0.5% on Thursday and seems to have entered a consolidation phase at around 157.00 early Friday. The data from Japan showed that the Tokyo Consumer Price Index climbed to 2.2% on a yearly basis in May from 1.8% in April.
GBP/USD staged a rebound on Thursday and closed above 1.2700. The pair stays relatively quiet and moves up and down in a narrow band at around 1.2720 in the European morning on Friday.
Gold benefited from the pullback seen in US Treasury bond yields and registered small gains on Thursday. XAU/USD struggles to gather bullish momentum and trades near mid-$2,340s.
