What you need to know on Thursday, August 12:
The American dollar advanced throughout the first half of the day but ended the day in the red against most major rivals. The greenback changed course after the release of US inflation data, as the annual figure was confirmed at 5.4%, although the core number was downwardly revised to 4.3%, the first sign of inflation may be peaking.
Meanwhile, Fed officials continued to cool down tapering expectations. Kansas City Federal Reserve President Esther George said that the time has come to dial back the settings on the monetary policy, although she added that tapering does not imply any following policy rate adjustment. Even further, she also noted that the road ahead to policy normalization “is likely to be a long and bumpy.”
Wall Street got a boost from US inflation headlines, with the DJIA and the S&P 500 reaching fresh record highs. The Nasdaq Composite was unable to follow the lead and closed again in the red.
The EUR/USD pair recovered from a fresh low at 1.1705, but the recovery stalled around 1.1750, maintaining the tepid tone. GBP/USD posted a similar behaviour, approaching the 1.3900 level before retreating. The USD/JPY pair settled around 110.40, correcting but still poised to advance.
Commodity-linked currencies also advanced within familiar levels. Gold prices posted a nice comeback amid receding dollar’s demand. The bright metal settled at $1,751.30 a troy ounce. Crude oil prices shrugged off a discouraging EU stockpiles report, as the EIA Oil Stocks Change printed at -0.447 million, worse than expected.
US Treasury yields soared ahead of US inflation figures, but pulled back afterwards, ending the day marginally lower.