Forex Major Currencies Outlook (Apr 20, 2016)

Building permits and housing starts both declined and fell short of estimates while today has the exiting home sales report due. 

EUR

The euro was able to advance to the dollar and yen but was no match to comdoll strength. Data from the euro zone came in better than expected, as the German ZEW economic sentiment index rose from 4.3 to 11.2 while the region's reading climbed from 10.6 to 21.5. There are no major reports due from the euro zone today but ECB head Draghi has a speech lined up. 

GBP

The pound continued its climb when BOE Governor Carney also shared his bias against a Brexit. For today, the UK jobs release is due and a drop of 11.9K in claimants is eyed. This could be enough to keep the jobless rate unchanged at 5.1%. The average earnings index is also expected to hold steady at 2.1% but a pickup in wages could be positive for the pound. 

CHF 

The Swiss franc was able to rake in some gains even though there were no major reports out of Switzerland. Today has the ZEW economic expectations index lined up and a rise from the previous 2.5 reading could yield more gains.  

JPY

The yen continued to lose ground to its higher-yielding peers as risk appetite persisted. There were no major reports out of Japan yesterday and none are due today, which suggests that market sentiment could continue to push yen pairs around. 

Commodity Currencies (AUD, NZD, CAD)

The comdolls continued to benefit from the pickup in commodity prices, even as the end of the Kuwait oil strike marked a resumption of production in the country. In New Zealand, the GDT auction yielded a 3.8% gain in dairy prices, stronger than the previous 2.1% increase. US crude oil inventories and a speech by Governor Poloz are due today. 

By Kate Curtis from Trader's Way