The u.s. dollar and the japanese yen were little changed on Monday after posting gains earlier on the rising tensions in the Middle East.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies was little changed at 96,435 at 10: 25 am.
The index was under pressure earlier in the day after the Institute for Supply Management announced that manufacturing had contracted the most in December since more than a decade, with order volumes falling to a low of nearly 11 years and the employment in factories fell for a fifth straight month.
This week will present the first report on wages in non-agricultural of the United States of the decade, which should indicate a slowing of employment growth after the windfall gains of November.
At the same time, the president of the New York Fed, John Williams (NYSE: WMB) said Sunday that it was important for the federal Reserve to meet its inflation target of 2%.
“There has been a process to get through the stages of grief about a lower neutral rate,” said Williams.
“If inflation continues to exceed our target levels as it has done, this downward trend in inflation expectations will probably continue, expectations of inflation falling well below target levels”, he said.
The pair USD/JPY was little changed at 107,96. The yen shelter has traded higher against the dollar earlier in the midst of an intensification of tensions in the Middle East, but relinquished its gains later.
The pair GBP/USD has rebounded from 0.2% to 1,3115. The british Parliament will meet again Tuesday to discuss the divorce agreement that the Prime minister Boris Johnson has agreed with Brussels.
If no agreement is reached by the end of 2020, the result could be that Britain to leave the EU without any trade agreements in place.
On the front of the data, the final reading of the activity of the services in the United Kingdom in December, due later in the day, is expected to show a slight increase, while in the territory of contraction under 50. The data on housing prices released Wednesday could also provide clues about the strength of the real estate market. now that there is a little more clarity on the Brexit.
