Economic Data Puts the EUR and the Greenback in Focus

Its a relatively busy day ahead on the economic calendar. Eurozone inflation and U.S jobless claims will be the key stats on the day.

Earlier in the Day:

It is a busy start to the day on the economic calendar this morning. The Japanese Yen and the Aussie Dollar were in focus in the early hours. Later this morning, the PBoC will also be in action.

For the Japanese Yen

In December, Japans trade deficit narrowed from ¥955.6bn to ¥582.4bn. Economists had forecast a narrowing to 784.1bn.

According to figures released by the Ministry of Finance,

• Year-on-year, exports rose by 17.5%, while imports were up by 41.1%.

• Exports to China increased by 10.8%, with exports to the U.S up by 22.1%.

• From China, imports rose by 20.5%, with imports from the U.S increasing by 39.6%.

• Imports from Australia surged by 95.7% when compared with December 2020.

The Japanese Yen moved from ¥114.350 to ¥114.359 upon release of the figures. At the time of writing, the Japanese Yen was up by 0.02% to ¥114.310 against the U.S Dollar.

For the Aussie Dollar

Employment figures were in focus this morning.

According to the ABS,

• Employment increased by 64.8k in December, following a 366.1k jump in November.

• Full employment rose by 41.5k after having risen by 128.3k in the previous month.

• As a result, Australias unemployment rate fell from 4.6% to 4.2%. This was the lowest unemployment rate since August 2008.

• The participation rate held steady at 66.1% in the month.

The Aussie Dollar moved from $0.72207 to $0.72267 upon release of the figures. At the time of writing, the Aussie Dollar was up by 0.24% to $0.7228.

Elsewhere

At the time of writing, the Kiwi Dollar was down by 0.13% to $0.6775.