The USD continued its march higher for a second straight day, despite weaker than expected economic data as both Initial Jobless Claims and Durable Goods Orders were weaker than expected while pending Home Sales fell.

EURUSD lost ground against the dollar, after ECP President Mario Draghi said the Eurozone’s economic recovery is “increasingly solid” but tempered sentiment by insisting that inflationary pressure “remain subdued”. The ECB left its benchmark interest unchanged at a record low 0.00%, in line with expectations. Nevertheless, Euro remains the strongest major currency for the week even though it’s losing some upside momentum

GBP is picking up momentum in Asian session and could overtake Euro’s place. Dollar is trading mixed for the moment as markets found little inspiration from US President Donald Trump’s tax plan.

In stock Markets the Dow closed up 0.03% at 20981.33 overnight. S&P 500 rose 0.06% to close at 2388.77. NASDAQ extended its record run and closed up 0.39% at 6048.94. While DJIA and S&P 500 lost some momentum ahead of record highs, both are still on course to extend the long term up trend.

Oil recovered, after touching its lowest level this month overnight on concerns about the restart of two key Libyan oilfields and muted gasoline demand. Oil rose about 0.8 % to $49.35 a barrel, but is headed for a weekly loss of 0.5 %.

Gold was about 0.1% higher at $1,264.36, narrowing the week’s loss to 1.5%.