| Time | Country | Event | Period | Previous value | Forecast | Actual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:30 | Australia | Unemployment rate | January | 6.6% | 6.5% | 6.4% |
| 00:30 | Australia | Changing the number of employed | January | 50.1 | 40 | 29.1 |
| 07:00 | Switzerland | Trade Balance | January | 3.10 | 3.58 |
During today's Asian trading, the US dollar declined slightly against the euro, stabilized against the yen, and fell against the pound.
Traders are evaluating the minutes of the Federal Reserve System (Fed) meeting published yesterday. The minutes showed that the forecasts of the Federal Reserve leaders regarding the long-term prospects of the US economy have become more optimistic. However, they did not consider it possible that in the foreseeable future the conditions would be formed for the Central Bank to reduce the volume of its large-scale asset purchase program.
The pound rose slightly despite statements by the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, Dave Ramsden, that the Central Bank has the opportunity to expand the asset purchase program to stimulate economic growth. This is probably a signal that the Bank of England would not want to move to a policy of negative interest rates. According to Ramsden, the Bank of England may reconsider a number of restrictions in the quantitative easing (QE) program, which is a "tried and tested tool".
The ICE Dollar index, which tracks the dynamics of the dollar against six currencies (euro, swiss franc, yen, canadian dollar, pound sterling and swedish krona), fell by 0.08%