Dollar retains on firmer footing following final week’s advance

The Japanese yen is on its own at the front to start the week but the dollar is also seen holding slightly firmer now as after a short period of consolidation since Friday. Both EUR/USD and GBP/USD are down 0.3% to 1.0860 and 1.2895 respectively, touching their lowest levels since 11 July. The latter looks on course for a further retracement after buyers attempted and failed at their latest attempt to hold a break above 1.3000:

The 38.2 Fib retracement level at 1.2879 is the next minor support level to watch, before the 50.0 Fib retracement level at 1.2828 comes in.

The dollar’s slight nudge higher today comes despite yields keeping lower and equities holding a more tentative mood. US futures are flattish mostly now, with tech shares in focus awaiting earnings from Alphabet and Tesla after the close.

It’s a bit of a tough one to get a real grasp on the flows in the last few days. USD/JPY is still down 0.6% at 156.05 but the dollar is up elsewhere with AUD/USD and NZD/USD both also down 0.3% to 0.6620 and 0.5960 respectively currently.

It is not quite a quiet summer but it is one that is still tough to sort of the flows, at least for now. But as always, the best we can do is to at least look at the technicals and manage our approach from there.