The year ends with the USD an average of 5.9% above its levels at the beginning of January. Among the major currencies its biggest gain is of 10.0% against the AUD...

The excitement on Thursday, once again, was to be found in the stock market not in exchange rates. In a two-hour stint the DJ30 jumped more than 4% before settling into a new, higher trading range.

Following a disappointing assessment from the National Association of Home Builders on Monday investors might have expected yesterday's data for housing start and building permits to look a little flabby too. That was not the case...

Among the first evidence of a thaw in the trade war is an order from China for up to two million tons of US soybeans...

Ironically, positive words from the US president were of little help to the USD...

In the back half of the field the USD lost 0.4% to its main benchmark, the EUR. The decline seems principally to have been the result of what, on the face of it, was a strong reading from the ISM's manufacturing sector...

In a widely-anticipated speech New York Fed president John Williams spoke about monetary policy but he disappointed investors by not touching on current rate settings.

A range of only half a cent separated the USD's high against the EUR from its low on Thursday. The two were precisely unchanged on the day against one another.

Tuesday's US data did not add much to the debate. Redbook sales increased by 0.8% on the month and by an annual 7.9%; more than analysts had forecast but not enough to affect attitudes to the USD.

Monday's economic data provided investors with little inspiration to get involved with the USD or with any other major currency.