President-elect Donald Trump complained about the Dollar’s appreciation which helped to halt any potential gains. The Dollar has been under pressure for the past week as concerns over policy matters continue to grow only days ahead of the inauguration. Analysts say that possible protectionist policies are likely to further weigh on the greenback. The USD/JPY has especially been hard hit, losing about 0.9% and striking a 5-week trough earlier in the trading day. Against the euro, the greenback suffered a 0.5% decline.
As reported at 10:30 am (GMT) in London, the USD/JPY was trading at 113.16 Yen, down 0.82%, well off the session peak of 114.28 Yen. The EUR/USD was 0.58% higher at $1.0663; the daily range for the pair was established at $1.0593 for the low and $1.0682 for the peak.
Euro Boosted by Mixed Data
In the past month, the Euro has been up more than 3% versus the greenback, helped along by concerns over the Dollar generally, but also improved economic data. The ECB reported that banks in the Eurozone expect loan demand to rise while sales of European cars rose in December by a sharper margin than anticipated. Earlier today, the ZEW surveys were released and while the current situation in Germany showed a marked improvement with a reading of 77.3 against expectations of a rise to 65.0, the overall Eurozone survey was lower than expected.