- The Turkish Lira is continuing its long-term decline after again falling to a new record low price, after crossing 10 lira to the US dollar for the first time at the start of this week. We are likely to see a further advance in USD/TRY over the coming days, but be aware that trading this currency pair can be expensive and volatile. It is falling with very strong momentum, currently averaging about 3% per day against the US dollar.
- The EUR/USD firmed up slightly yesterday, but is still looking likely to fall further over the coming days, presenting an opportunity for trend traders. This move is driven by enhanced euro weakness after Cristine Lagarde, the ECB President, ruled out an ECB rate hike in 2022.
- The US Dollar Index has become established above key long-term resistance, breaking out to reach a new 15-month high in a significant technical move confirming the long-term bullish USD trend. As long as the former resistance area now continues to hold as support, and despite yesterday’s small selloff in the greenback, the technical outlook will look bullish for the US dollar. The Forex market major pairs will probably trade uncertainly today until this is resolved.
- The cryptocurrency sector dipped again yesterday. Bitcoin is trading below the key round number at $60k.
- UK CPI (inflation) data came in higher than expected yesterday, showing an annualized increase of 4.2% against an expected increase of 3.9%. This suggests a UK rate hike is very likely to happen next month. This boosted the value of the British Pound somewhat, which reached a long-term high against the Euro, but is so far failing to clear $1.3500 against the US Dollar.
- Canadian CPI (inflation) data met expectations yesterday, showing a monthly increase of 0.7%.
- Last week saw the third consecutive global weekly rise in new confirmed coronavirus cases after two months in which cases fell steadily.
- It is estimated that 52.3% of the world’s population has received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccination.
- Total confirmed new coronavirus cases worldwide stand at over 255.1 million with an average case fatality rate of 2.01%.
- The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be increasing most quickly in Australia, Bolivia, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, South Korea, Laos, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Trinidad, and Vietnam.