A big end to the week coming up after US stocks hit all-time highs.

The USD weakened overnight, allowing paired currencies to gain some upward momentum. The EURUSD began the day at $1.10050 and fell to lows of $1.09884 mid-session. It soon bounced off those lows, climbing to highs of $1.10270 late in the day. It has come off those highs and is now trading at $1.10194. The GBPUSD followed a similar path to the euro after opening at $1.28484. The pair slipped to lows of $1.28241 mid-session before regaining those losses a few hours later. The pound powered its way to a high of $1.28878 late in the day and is currently trading at $1.28800.

The Dow was flat for most of the day, taking a breather from recent rallies. The index opened the day at 27,783.63 and ticked up to a high of 27,837.58 not long after the open. It gave up those gains fairly quickly and traded in a tight range for a large chunk of the day. Late-session trading saw the Dow dip to lows of 27,667.40 late in the day before bouncing back to its current level of 27,775.50. The Dax suffered some small losses overnight, in what has been a disappointing last couple of days for the German index. It opened at 13,244.75 and bumped up to a high of 13,276.59 early in the day. The decline set in shortly afterwards, with the Dax hitting lows of 13,157.87 late in the day. It has come off those lows and is currently trading at 13,203.75.

The day ahead is packed with data, with the US coming into focus. The US will be publishing Retail & Core Retail Sales data later tonight. It is expected that Retail Sales will grow by 0.1% (up from -0.1% recorded last month), while the Core Retail Sales figure is forecast to show an expansion of 0.3% (up from -0.3% recorded last month).

Other data published today includes:

Japan – Revised Industrial Production

China – Foreign Direct Investment

Australia – RBA Deputy Governor Guy Debelle speaks

Canada – Foreign Securities Purchases, BoC Governor Stephen Poloz and Governing Council Member Timothy Lane speak

Europe – European CPI & Core CPI, European & Italian Trade Balance, German Buba President Jens Weidmann speaks

US – Empire State manufacturing Index, Import Prices, Capacity Utilisation Rate, Industrial Production, Business Inventories

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