FOREX TODAY: US DOLLAR CONSOLIDATES AHEAD OF FEDSPEAK

WHAT YOU NEED KNOW ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17 IS AS FOLLOWS:

The US Dollar is stable compared to its main competitors after finishing Tuesday on a positive note. There won't be any significant data releases on the US economic docket, but a number of Federal Reserve (Fed) policymakers will be speaking on Wednesday. During European market hours, Eurostat will make changes to the March inflation figures available.

US DOLLAR EXCHANGE RATE FOR THIS WEEK

The US dollar's (USD) percentage movement compared to a list of major currencies for this week is displayed in the table below. When compared to the Australian dollar, the US dollar was the strongest.

The major currencies' percentage movements relative to one another are displayed on the heat map. The quotation currency is selected from the top row, and the base currency is selected from the left column. For example, the percentage change shown in the box will indicate EUR (base)/JPY (quote) if you select the Euro from the left column and proceed along the horizontal line to the Japanese Yen.

Early on Wednesday, the UK's Office for National Statistics revealed that, according to changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), annual inflation decreased slightly from 3.4% in February to 3.2% in March. In the same time frame, core CPI increased by 4.2% as well. As a result of each of these figures exceeding analysts' projections, Pound Sterling gained momentum. GBP/USD gained momentum and increased above 1.2450 after trading in a narrow channel just around 1.2400 for the most of the Asian session.

The USD found demand in the American session thanks to hawkish remarks made by Fed officials and the cautious position taken by the market, and on Tuesday the USD Index closed in positive territory for the fifth straight day. Early on Wednesday, US stock index futures trade slightly lower and the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond rate trades sideways above 4.65%. Israel declared that it will strike back at Iran, and a war cabinet meeting is scheduled for this Wednesday to determine the proper course of action.

After dropping around 1.0600 on Tuesday, EUR/USD made a little recovery and ended the day essentially unchanged. Above 1.0600 in the European morning, the pair goes up and down in a narrow zone while remaining largely silent.

Due to the rising yields on US Treasury bonds, which prevented gold from taking advantage of the cautious market sentiment, the precious metal was unable to make a significant move on Tuesday. Early on Wednesday, XAU/USD is still trading sideways over $2,370.

Early on Wednesday in the Asian session, data from New Zealand revealed that the CPI increased by 4% annually in the first quarter, a significant down from the 4.7% growth in the preceding quarter. The CPI increased by 0.6% over the previous quarter. Following this story, the NZD/USD exchange rate increased and was last seen trading somewhat above 0.5900.

On Tuesday, the USD/JPY reached a new multi-decade high of 154.80. During the Asian session, the pair made a small retreat and appears to have leveled off at 154.50.