Forex Major Currencies Outlook (August 18, 2014)

Apart from that, data from the US economy came in weaker than expected on Friday, with consumer sentiment and the Empire State manufacturing index missing expectations. US PPI and core PPI came in line with estimates, showing a 0.1% and 0.2% gain respectively. Only the NAHB housing market index is due from the US today.

EUR

The euro made a recovery at the end of last week when traders booked profits off their short positions. There were no reports released from the region then, as Italian and French banks were on holiday. Only the trade balance and German Buba report are up for release today, with the trade surplus projected to narrow from 15.3 billion EUR to 14.9 billion EUR. Weaker than expected figures could increase concerns of a trade slump in the region, as it will deal with Russian food import sanctions soon.

GBP

Pound pairs gapped up over the weekend as traders booked profits ahead of this week’s top-tier events. Data from the UK came in line with expectations, as the second GDP estimate stayed unchanged at 0.8% while the index of services showed a 1.0% gain. Earlier today, the Rightmove HPI marked a 2.9% decline, following the previous month’s 0.8% drop. No other reports are due from the UK today.

CHF

The franc had a strong recovery on Friday, despite the lack of top-tier data from Switzerland. There are still no reports up for release from Switzerland today, leaving franc pairs to move to the tune of risk sentiment or to take its cue from euro movement.

JPY

The yen gave up ground on Friday when risk sentiment showed a bit of improvement. There were no reports released from Japan then and none are due today, which suggests that yen pairs could take their cue from market sentiment for the rest of the trading day.

Commodity Currencies (AUD, NZD, CAD)

The comdolls had a decent recovery at the end of the trading week, thanks to the small pickup in sentiment. There were no reports released from the comdoll economies then. For today, Australia’s new motor vehicle sales report marked a 1.3% decline. Later on, New Zealand will report its PPI input and output figures, with weak data likely to result to Kiwi selling.

By Kate Curtis from Trader's Way