The Hungarian Forint is edging lower versus the US Dollar in early trade on Friday, after two straight sessions of gains.
At 09:30 UTC, USD/HUF is trading +0.2% higher at 321.83, near the upper end of the daily range. Despite today’s weakness the Forint is on track to have strengthened over 1.7% versus the greenback this week, as it claws back steep losses from earlier in the month.
Global Data Depresses Risk Sentiment
Risk sentiment is weakening again on Friday as investors digest data from across the globe, which is starting to reveal the economic impact of coronavirus. Data from China overnight showed that Chinese factory profits slumped to a 20 year low on the hit from coronavirus.
Consumer confidence figures from Germany, France and Italy are all pointing to the Eurozone, Hungary’s largest trading partner, heading for a deep recession.
As the bad news stacks up across the globe doubts are cast over the Hungarian central bank’s bullish economic outlook. Whilst the National Hungarian Bank projects a slowdown in GDP this year, it expects Hungary to maintain a growth advantage over its European peers. The central bank forecasts growth of 3% – 3.5% this year it revealed in its latest inflation report.
US Consumer Confidence To Drop
Today US Dollar investors will look towards US consumer confidence figures, due for release later. Analysts are forecasting consumer confidence will have fallen to 95 on the University of Michigan index in March, down from 95.9 in February.
Consumers lose confidence when they lose their job or when they fear being laid off. Given the record-breaking number of initial jobless claims in March, at 3.3 million, there is a good chance that consumer could be worse than what analysts are forecasting.
The data comes as the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in American surpasses 83,500, meaning that there are more cases in the US than there were in China or Italy. The number of deaths in the US has risen to 1,200.
With the number of cases escalating rapidly and US data unnerving investors, the dollar is starting to gain as investors look towards its safe haven properties once again.
