Conference Board Inc. (CB) reported the results of its latest survey on Tuesday (25/8/2020). It is said that the level of consumer confidence or the US Consumer Confidence for the August period fell to 84.8. Meanwhile, the estimated number is 93.0.
Lynn Franco, Senior Director of CB Economic Indicators said that US consumer confidence in August fell for the second month in a row. That condition is far from the expectation. The consumers stated that business and employment conditions have deteriorated over the past month.
Now new hopes seem to emerge for the movement of the USD currency. It is related to the speech to be delivered by Jerome Power. It is believed, there will be many new things to improve the economic situation in the US.
Stable Movement of the USD
The US dollar is moving quite stable against several other currencies in the European session today, Wednesday (26/8/2020). It happened ahead of the speech by the Chairman of the Fed, Jerome Powell. Investors seem to be preparing for any possible new steps.
Powell is expected to hint at a looser policy on inflation at the Jackson Hole Symposium on Thursday (27/8). Many analysts expect Powell to use his forward guidance to send a dovish message that interest rates will remain low for a long time.
This will continue to weigh on the dollar. The Dollar Index, which represents the strength of the USD against six other major currencies (EUR, JPY, GBP, CAD, SEK, CHF), is currently moving around the 93.09 level. It means the USD strengthened 0.08 percent.
Steady Movement against Attenuation
The US dollar was also able to maintain weakness against most currencies on Wednesday. It is as market participants brace for US data expected to show a slowdown in durable goods orders. It is also about a keynote speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
The greenback took a hit after data on Tuesday showed US consumer confidence fell to its lowest level in more than six years. It was triggered by concerns about job losses caused by the coronavirus which becomes the global issue until now.
Market participants will look to Powell's speech on Thursday at the annual Jackson Hole event. It is crucial to determine what steps the Fed is willing to take to keep the fragile economic recovery at bay. Traders are in a long-term correction from excessive dollar strength.
Against the euro, the US dollar was at $ 1.1833 in Asia on Wednesday. This condition follows a decline of 0.4% in the previous session. Additionally, sterling has managed to ignore a lack of progress in trade negotiations between the UK and the European Union.
Speeches will be Conducted Online
The US dollar bought 0.9082 Swiss francs. That was near the lowest level in more than five years. The dollar managed to sustain a modest advance against the yen where in last trade was at 106.35. Powel Speech itself will be held online.
It is clearly because of the coronavirus outbreak. So far, the speech was the biggest event of the week. The late data on Wednesday was a forecast to show growth in US durable goods orders slowed in July. Then, following the US consumer confidence report for August.
It felt to the lowest level since May 2014. The investors in Asia will closely monitor the yuan when opening trades. It is important to see if China's currency continues to rise after optimism between Washington and Beijing confirm their trade agreement.
Trading in other currencies could be halted due to the lack of major economic releases during the Asian session. The Australian dollar also rose slightly. However, it is likely to stay within that range as the market is monitoring the coronavirus outbreak in the state of Victoria.
