13th Apr 2015 18:29
WASHINGTON (Alliance News) - The dollar was up modestly against its major competitors early Monday, extending its gains from the previous trading week. However, the US currency has given back those gains over the course of the trading session. Trading action has been subdued at the start of the new trading week, due to a lack of US economic data.
Investors can look forward to a large number of US economic reports later this week. Retail sales and PPI are due to be released Tuesday, while industrial production and the housing market index are slated for Wednesday. Weekly jobless claims and housing starts are scheduled for Thursday, while CPI and consumer sentiment are due Friday.
The dollar extended last week's winning streak against the Euro early Monday, reaching nearly a 1-month high of USD1.0520. However, the US currency has pulled back to around USD1.0565 this afternoon.
France's current account deficit in February increased from the previous month, as the visible trade shortfall widened due to the reduction in the growth of international trade, figures from Bank of France showed Monday.
The seasonally adjusted current account deficit rose to EUR 1.8 billion in February from EUR 0.2 billion in January. The goods trade surplus increased to EUR 2.9 billion from EUR 2.3 billion a month ago.
Italy's industrial production recovered in February after falling for the first time in four months, data from the statistical office Istat showed Monday. Industrial output grew 0.6% month-on-month in February reversing a 0.7% fall in January. Economists had forecast a 0.5% rise.
The buck rose to nearly a 5-year high of USD1.4564 against the pound sterling Monday morning, but has since retreated to around USD1.4675.
Members of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy board believe that the country's moderate economic recovery will continue at its current pace, the minutes from the board's March 16 and 17 meeting revealed on Monday.
In its long-standing war with deflation, the board said inflation expectations appear to be rising - although the members cautioned that the upside was being capped by tumbling energy prices.
"Japan's economy is expected to continue its moderate recovery trend. The year-on-year rate of increase in the CPI is likely to be about 0% for the time being, due to the effects of the decline in energy prices," the minutes said.
The Bank of Japan raised its economic assessment of three of the nine regions citing that the pace of recovery had accelerated. The assessment of remaining six regions were left unchanged.
In its quarterly Regional Economic Report, the bank upgraded its view on Hokuriku, Tokai and Kinki regions. The other six regions reported that their assessments regarding the pace of economic improvement had remained unchanged.
"All regions reported that the economy had been recovering moderately or recovering, mainly against the background of a pick-up in production assisted primarily by a moderate increase in demand both at home and abroad and of the ongoing steady improvement in the employment and income situation," it said.
The greenback climbed to a 3-week high of Y120.844 Monday morning, but has since eased back to around Y120.030.
Core machine orders in Japan slipped 0.4% on month in February, the Cabinet Office said on Monday, worth 835.6 billion yen. The headline figure beat forecasts for a decline of 2.2% following the 1.7% contraction in January.
The Bank of Japan's index measuring producer prices was up 0.3% on month in March, the bank said on Monday, standing at 103.5. That beat forecasts for a decline of 0.1%, which would have been unchanged from the February reading following a downward revision from no change.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX