The US dollar rose today to its highest level in seven weeks as the dollar index reached 93.81 in the light of the continued positive data from the US economy and remains waiting for employment data tomorrow which affected by the recent hurricanes. Today's data showed that the trade deficit shrank for August as exports rose to a two-and-a-half year high.
On the other hand, the euro fell after the release of the European Central Bank meeting minutes, which was a bit cautious, as policy makers discussed the choice between different options to expand the scope of purchases of assets, noting that the option of reduction guaranteed in any scenario. The euro fell against the US dollar to hit its lowest level since October 3 at 1.1698. EURUSD continued to move as we previously expected after breaking the neckline of the head and shoulders pattern.
Sterling continued to fall to a three-week low amid rising political uncertainty. The GBPUSD slipped to 1.3108 its lowest level since September 8. Bank of England has warned at its last meeting that the option to raise interest rates would be available in the coming months.
Also, the Canadian dollar fell against its US counterpart today as USDCAD rose to its highest level since August 31 at 1.2584 following the Canadian trade deficit in August increased to 3.4 billion dollars and Canadian exports continued to decline for the third month in a row.
The US dollar began to dominate today's trading early in the morning when the Australian dollar fell sharply following the retail sales data, which fell in August, to its worst performance since March 2013, the Australian dollar fell to its lowest level against US Dollar since July 18 at 0.7784.
Oil prices rose by more than 2% during the day, with positive comments from both sides Russian & Saudi during the visit of King Salman bin Abdulaziz to Russia on Thursday for first time. Saudi Oil Minister Khalid al-Falih expressed Saudi Arabia's flexibility to Moscow's proposal to extend the production cut-off agreement until the end of 2018. Crude oil prices rose from a daily low of 49.82$ to reach its highest level since the beginning of the week at 51.20$ a barrel.
