Eyes on comments from central bankers, mid-tier data

Here is what you need to know on Tuesday, February 6:

The US Dollar (USD) started the new week on a bullish tone, with the USD Index rising 0.5% on Monday and reaching its highest level since mid-November above 104.50. Markets stay relatively quiet early Tuesday and the USD Index consolidates its recent gains. Eurostat will release Eurozone Retail Sales data for December and the RealClearMarkets/TIPP Economic Optimism Index for February will be the only data featured in the US economic docket. Market participants will also pay close attention to comments from central bankers.

In the meantime, US stock index futures trade little changed in the European morning and the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield retreats toward 4.1% after rising more than 3% on Monday.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) announced on Tuesday that it left the policy rate unchanged at 4.35% for the second consecutive meeting as expected. In the policy statement, the RBA reiterated that they remain resolute in their determination to return inflation to target and noted that further increases in rates cannot be ruled out. In the post-meeting press conference, Governor Michele Bullock said that they need to be convinced that inflation will get back to the target range and stay there before they start thinking about rate reductions. AUD/USD gained traction during the Asian trading hours and was last seen trading in positive territory slightly above 0.6500.

Bullock Speech: RBA Governor speaks on policy outlook after holding interest rate.

US Dollar price today

The table below shows the percentage change of US Dollar (USD) against listed major currencies today. US Dollar was the weakest against the Australian Dollar.

	USD	EUR	GBP	CAD	AUD	JPY	NZD	CHF
USD		-0.09%	-0.15%	-0.25%	-0.47%	-0.12%	-0.30%	-0.11%
EUR	0.09%		-0.05%	-0.17%	-0.37%	-0.03%	-0.21%	-0.02%
GBP	0.15%	0.05%		-0.11%	-0.32%	0.02%	-0.15%	0.04%
CAD	0.24%	0.17%	0.11%		-0.21%	0.13%	-0.04%	0.14%
AUD	0.49%	0.39%	0.34%	0.23%		0.36%	0.19%	0.38%
JPY	0.14%	0.06%	0.00%	-0.11%	-0.25%		-0.16%	0.03%
NZD	0.32%	0.22%	0.17%	0.06%	-0.17%	0.19%		0.21%
CHF	0.12%	0.02%	-0.03%	-0.13%	-0.36%	-0.02%	-0.19%

The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the Euro from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the Japanese Yen, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent EUR (base)/JPY (quote).

EUR/USD broke below 1.0800 and touched its lowest level in 11 weeks near 1.0720 on Monday. The pair stages a technical correction and trades marginally higher on the day at around 1.0750 early Tuesday.

GBP/USD lost more than 0.5% for the second consecutive trading day on Tuesday and came within a touching distance of 1.2500. The pair clings to modest recovery gains near 1.2550 in the European morning.

Bank of Japan (BoJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda said on Tuesday that they will consider whether to continue or discontinue various means, including purchases of exchange-traded funds, when they review the massive stimulus programme. Following Monday’s indecisive action, USD/JPY edged slightly lower in the Asian trading hours on Tuesday and was last seen trading near 148.50.

Statistics New Zealand will release labor market data for the fourth-quarter in the early Asian session on Wednesday. NZD/USD edged higher following Monday’s decline and stabilized above 0.6050.