| Time | Country | Event | Period | Previous value | Forecast | Actual |
|---|
| 00:30 | Australia | Retail Sales, M/M | December | 1.7% | -0.6% | -3.9% |
| 07:00 | Germany | Factory Orders s.a. (MoM) | December | -4.4% | 2% | 3.2% |
During today's Asian trading, the US dollar rose slightly against major currencies, continuing Friday's rally, driven by strong US labor market data that bolstered arguments for further Fed rate hikes.
The US Dollar Currency Index (DXY), which tracks the dynamics of the dollar against six currencies (euro, swiss franc, yen, canadian dollar, pound sterling and swedish krona) rose by 0.18% to 103.10. On Friday, the index jumped by 1.14%.
The US Department of Labor said on Friday that in January the nonfarm payrolls increased by 517 thousand, and the unemployment rate fell to the lowest level since 1969 - to 3.4% from 3.5%. Average hourly earnings rose 0.3% after a 0.4% increase in December. This slowed the annual wage growth to 4.4% from 4.8% in December. Economists had forecast an increase in the number of jobs by 185,000 and an increase in wages by 4.3% year-on-year.
This week, traders will be waiting for new signals from the Chairman of the Federal Reserve System (Fed) Jerome Powell, who will speak at the Economic Club of Washington tomorrow.
During a press conference following the Fed's February meeting, Powell acknowledged for the first time that "the disinflationary process has begun." He also admitted that the Fed's rate would not exceed 5%, and repeated that the Fed could achieve a slowdown in inflation without causing significant damage to the economy.