Yesterday's trades were quite active. Political rows have once again put pressure on the American currency. There are rumors that the head of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn intends to resign. The demand for safe currencies (Japanese yen and Swiss franc) has grown significantly. At the same time, the White House has refuted these rumors. Support for the US dollar was also provided by optimistic economic reports. Last week, the number of initial applications for unemployment benefits fell by 4.9% to 232,000. In August, the index of manufacturing activity from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia was 18.9, which is higher than the forecasted value of 18.5.
The euro closed the trading session in the negative zone. The record of the last meeting of the ECB showed that the regulator is concerned about the significant strengthening of the euro. Since the beginning of this year, the growth of the EUR/USD quotations has exceeded 11.5%. The strong currency jeopardizes the Central Bank's attempts to accelerate inflation.
The prices of "black gold" recovered slightly after a sharp fall this week. At the moment, futures for the WTI crude oil are being traded near $47 per barrel.
Market Indicators
Yesterday, there were aggressive sales on the US stock market. The main indices closed in the negative zone: SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) (-1.56%); SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) (-1.21%), PowerShares QQQ Trust Series 1 (NASDAQ:QQQ) (-2.04%).
The 10-year US government bonds yield demonstrates negative dynamics. At the moment the indicator is at the level of 2.19-2.20%.
The dollar index closed the trading session in the positive zone (+0.21%).
News background on 2017.08.18:
Today, the report on inflation in Canada is at the center of attention - 15:30 (GMT+3:00).