The economic data released during the Asian session this morning turned out to be weaker than expected. Major statistical releases included inflation figures for June in Japan. At the same time, the Australian and New Zealand dollars failed to secure stability, as the comments of the New York branch of the Federal Reserve provided support for the yield of US Treasury bonds. In Japan, the annual level of core inflation in June was 0.6%, which corresponds to the predicted 0.6%, whereas in May this indicator dropped from 0.8%.

As the G-20 meeting draws closer, investors generally prefer a wait-and-see attitude. However, during the Asian session, the attention of traders focused on Japanese statistics on the ratio of jobs and the number of unemployment applications for the past month, as well as data on industrial production and inflation rates for June. In Australia, data on private sector loans in May gave the Australian dollar the direction for further movement.

The economic calendar of the first trading day of the new week looks pretty dense in the Asian session. Production figures of Australia and Japan provide the direction of the market at the moment. The smallest impact was made by Japanese investment data in the 1st quarter and the gross operating profit of Australian companies. In Australia, the AIG Manufacturing PMI fell from 54.8 to 52.7 in May. The production index decreased by 6.9 points to 51.2, while the index of new orders fell by 3.3 points to 52.3.

The EURUSD pair is losing ground for the second day in a row, mainly due to the threat of Italy to break EU fiscal rules. Matteo Salvini, the leader of the right-wing League of Italy party, said that the government could soon increase its debt level, disregarding EU rules providing for a debt size not exceeding 3%. Such a violation of EU fiscal rules can put a lot of pressure on the single European currency.

Despite the impressive figures of the Friday report on the US labor market, at the beginning of the new trading week the Japanese yen is rising against the USD. The reason was the statements of US President Donald Trump about the new duties on goods from China. This led investors to turn to more safe assets.

Merry Christmas to everyone who observes and celebrates it! This period is a great time to reflect on a great year which is coming to an end, and smart forex traders are taking a closer look at their forex portfolios in order to conduct an annual overview of their performance, crunch numbers and determine where they need to improve to make the next year an even better one. Many global markets are closed for Christmas today which means very thin volumes will be encountered.

The USD climbed back towards a 14-year high on Tuesday as the Japanese yen fell after the Bank of Japan held policy steady and fallout from attacks in Germany and Turkey subdued the euro. European shares were steady, with unease over the attacks balanced by gains by bank shares and the Milan market.