The dollar strengthened to a near two-month high against a basket of currencies due to positive economic data. US private jobs data showed that businesses hired 291,000 workers in January 2020, the most since May 2015, easily beating market expectations of a 156,000 increase.
As expected, Donald Trump has been acquitted by the senate in his impeachment trial, which also boosted the greenback. News that China will be reducing tariffs from next week, as part of the phase one deal, has also helped the dollar to strengthen.
Balance of trade figures were released yesterday, as well as imports and exports. Exports increased 0.8% to $209.6 billion, the highest value in 7 months, mainly due to sales of crude oil. Imports jumped 2.7% to $258.5 billion, the biggest increase since May of 2019, mainly due to purchases of crude oil and nonmonetary gold.
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