Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari crossed the wires in the last minutes arguing that the U.S. economy was not at full employment and added that they have been amazed by the millions coming off the sidelines to join the workforce. Kashkari further stated that he was focused on wages as the best indicator of the labour market tightness.
Markets ignored Kashkari’s comments and stayed focused on the upbeat macroeconomic data releases from the U.S. With the ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI rising to 59.7 and new home sales increasing by 3.7% in December, the US Dollar Index rose to 96.90, where it was up 0.26% on the day.