Forex Top Story

The U.S. dollar firmed against its major rivals on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve hinted that tapering of the central bank's asset purchases could begin in the near futures.

Citing progress towards it goals of maximum employment and price stability, the Federal Reserve hinted Wednesday that tapering of the central bank's asset purchases could begin in the near future.

The National Association of Realtors released a report on Wednesday showing a pullback by U.S. existing home sales in the month of August. NAR said existing home sales slumped by 2.0 percent to an annual rate of 5.88 million in August after jumping by 2.2 percent to a revised rate of 6.00 million in July.

The Asian Development Bank raised its economic growth projections for the next year but signaled divergence in the recovery paths among regional economies. In its latest Asian Development Outlook 2021 Update, released Wednesday, the ADB said developing Asia will expand 5.4 percent next year, instead of 5.3 percent estimated previously. Meanwhile, the outlook for 2021 was downgraded to 7.1 perce

The Bank of Japan kept its monetary policy stimulus unchanged on Wednesday, ahead of next week's presidential election of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to select a successor to the outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. The board, governed by Haruhiko Kuroda, on Wednesday, voted 8-1, to hold the interest rate at -0.1 percent on current accounts that financial institutions maintain at the c

China maintained its benchmark loan prime rates for the 17 consecutive month, as widely expected. The one-year loan prime rate was kept unchanged at 3.85 percent and the five-year LPR at 4.65 percent. The one-year and five-year loan prime rates were last lowered in April 2020. The one-year loan prime rate was cut by 20 basis points and five-year rate by 10 basis points in April 2020.

The U.S. Dollar stayed subdued against most of its major counterparts on Tuesday, ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement tomorrow.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development raised the growth projection for next year, while lowering the same for this year, and expressed concern over the increasingly uneven nature of the economic recovery from the slump caused by the pandemic as well as rising inflationary pressures.

The UK budget deficit exceeded expectations and marked the second biggest shortfall on record for the month of August, driven by a surge in interest payments, data published by the Office for National Statistics showed on Tuesday. Public sector net borrowing, excluding public sector banks, totaled GBP 20.5 billion in August 2021.

Public sector finances data from the UK is due on Tuesday, headlining a light day for the European economic news. At 2.00 am ET, the Office for National Statistics releases UK public sector finance data for August. The budget deficit is seen at GBP 15.6 billion versus GBP 10.4 billion in July.

Producer prices from Germany are due on Monday, headlining a light day for the European economic news. At 2.00 am ET, Destatis is slated to issue Germany's producer prices for August. Producer price inflation is forecast to rise to 11.4 percent from 10.4 percent in July.

The U.S. dollar traded firm against most of its major counterparts on Friday, extending recent gains, as the focus remains on the upcoming monetary policy meeting of the Federal Reserve.

Consumer sentiment in the U.S. has seen a modest improvement in September after falling sharply in August, according to a preliminary report released by the University of Michigan on Friday. The report said the consumer sentiment index inched up by 71.0 in September from 70.3 in August. Economists had expected the index to rise to 72.2.

UK retail sales declined for the fourth straight month in August, the longest stretch of fall on record, data from the Office for National Statistics showed on Friday. Retail sales including auto fuel dropped unexpectedly by 0.9 percent month-on-month after declining 2.8 percent in July. Sales were forecast to climb 0.5 percent.

Retail sales data from the UK is due on Friday, headlining a light day for the European economic news. At 2.00 am ET, the Office for National Statistics is scheduled to issue UK retail sales data for August. Sales are forecast to grow 0.5 percent from July, when the volume was down 2.5 percent.