The US Dollar has faced an overall green month so far as it managed to climb the charts and enter bullish territory. The USD has been up 2.45% against the Euro, 3.24% against the British Pound, 2.23% against the Japanese Yen, and 2.49% against the Australian Dollar. The rest of April is expected to be calm, with relatively fewer reactors from both the political and economic sides. There are no major economic updates coming up that have the potential to sway the market more than what it has already seen this month so expect stable conditions throughout.
That being said, the Bank of Japan is going to release its interest rate decision for the upcoming month. Since we know that their markets are facing an all-time low this year, there is no doubt that this rate decision is going to be big for them. But will it sway the way the rest of the market moves? The USD/JPY Market The USD/JPY currency pair started off the month at the 149.1 point and quickly found itself in an uphill battle. The Japanese Yen placed constant pressure on the US Dollar but it was unable to bear the weight of its bulls this month. The USD managed to overthrow the JPY by 2.23% this month and is now averaging around the 154.5 point with no intention of falling back down anytime soon.
Early this month, the US released its employment data for March which helps us understand the change in the number of people employed in the country. The previous report was at 155K, and it managed to jump to 184K, which was positive for the US Dollar and pushed it up further.
Also, this month, Japan released its total exports for March, which tells us if they managed to export more goods out of the country than the previous month. The rate of exports was previously 7.8% and dropped down to 7.3% this month, which pushed the Japanese Yen down the charts.
The EUR/USD Market The EUR/USD currency pair started off the month at the 1.087 mark before slowing finding itself slipping down the charts as the US Dollar gained the upper hand. The Euro market was no match to the US bulls this month as it was unable to overthrow the major currency and fell 2.45% against the US Dollar. The EUR/USD market didn’t hit any major lows but is now averaging at the 1.065 mark.
Early this month, the US released its core retail sales for March which helps us understand the change in the number of sales of goods and services. This helps us understand if people still have the money to spend like before. The rate was forecasted at 0.4% but managed to touch 0.7%. The Eurozone also released its unemployment rate for March, which tells us the percentage of people unemployed in the region. The rate was previously 6.5% and analysts were hopeful that it would drop to 6.4% this time around. However, the rate remained steady at 6.5% once again.
Written by- Alyaziah H. (FOREXtraWealth.com contributor, forex trader, and fact checker for Investing.com)
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