Markets Await Data from US and Japan

The U.S. Dollar firmed in Asian trading despite five weeks of oversold territory for the greenback which resulted in a near continuous decline for the U.S. currency. U.S. economic data has not improved steadily enough to warrant further speculation that the Federal Reserve might soon be tapering its quantitative easing program, though neither has it been deficient enough to speculate on the opposite. Market players will look ahead to several key pieces of data in the U.S. which could help the Fed narrow down its options including consumer prices, retail sales, housing starts and the outcome of several regional surveys by the various Fed branches.

The U.S. Dollar Index, the gauge by which investors judge the greenback’s value against its major peers, was trading at 81.135 .DXY, close to the 7-week low struck last week. The EUR/USD pair was trading at $1.3335, recovering from an earlier session low of $1.3313 which followed a German media report that Greece could need additional financial aid early in 2014. The USD/JPY pair was trading at 96.30 Yen, not far from Friday’s late trade of 96.22 Yen and ahead of GDP data from Japan which could verify whether or not the Bank of Japan’s efforts are actually working.