Global Foreign Exchange Market
THE dollar continued its losing streak this week, sliding against a basket of major currencies by 0.52% to a three-year low of 90.498 due to the euro’s rally, mixed bag of data and concerns of a possible US government shutdown. Data showed weaker-than-expected NY Empire State and Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Indices in January of 17.7 and 22.2, respectively. Meanwhile, initial jobless claims for the week ending Jan 13 fell to 220,000 from 261,000 previously, beating expectations of 250,000 while industrial production in December rose 0.9% m/m from a fall of 0.1% m/m in November, surpassing an expected rise of 0.4%.