Analysis of the American trading session

During the American session on Wednesday, February 28, 2018, the US dollar continued to strengthen its positions against most of the major currencies of the market. The main support for the US currency is provided by the comments of the head of the Federal Reserve Powell on Tuesday, after which some analysts revised their forecasts and believe that the Fed will probably raise the interest rate four times this year, rather than three, as previously thought.

• As for the GDP data, they pointed to the slowdown in the growth of the indicator in the fourth quarter to a level of 2.5%, against the previous value of 2.6%.
• The GDP deflator was 2.3%, which is lower than the previous value of 2.4%.

The Japanese yen strengthened its position against the US dollar, which was caused by the growing demand for assets of the haven against the background of a decline in the US stock exchanges. (Dow -1.50%, S & P 500 -1.11%, Nasdaq -0.78%).

Commodity currencies also fell against the US dollar in the course of the US trading, which was caused by the widespread strengthening of the US currency, and also due to the decline in oil prices, after the published data from the EIA pointed to the increase in the US stocks of raw materials over the past week. See “Oil prices decline, data on oil and petroleum products in the US.“

Alexander Sivtsov