A lot of this comes on the back of year-end profit taking on what has been a successful position for the market. |
If you look at this from a directional standpoint, I think you'd look to be short of dollars. |
It's clear that the market is becoming more aggressive for an end to Japan's 'quantitative easing'. |
It's easier to name China a currency manipulator now that they have been singled out on an international stage. There is considerable scope for the yen to strengthen. |
Markets had been going for a modest pullback. In that light, it is not surprising that we're seeing some dollar strength. |
The Fed may become less comfortable offering guidance on the direction of interest rates. The market is going to watch to see if they remove 'measured. |
There are expectations for quantitative easing to end in April - that's our forecast too - but it will probably take several months (after that) before they begin tightening interest rates. |
There has been a clear shift in ECB rhetoric and gears are shifting in favor of tighter policy. |
This is a bit of consolidation ahead of the major data that we get tomorrow. The forecast for the data is relatively optimistic, although that optimistic outlook does not seem to be played out in the markets. |
We're already seeing light liquidity, and the data wasn't much of a focus. |
We're seeing a weaker dollar mainly because of position covering. |
You still have the potential for aggressive hikes by the Bank of Canada and you still have support from commodities prices. |