Consolidation ahead of trade data

There was a relative vacuum in the Fx markets after last week’s key events got by, so market looks forward to numbers and developments, especially the trade deficit data from the US from here on.

The US dollar is trading slightly weaker against major currencies in a thin Asian trading session as most Asian markets are closed for the Lunar New Year break. Dollar traders heard comments from Atlanta Fed President Jack Guynn on a possible shift in Fed’s policy statement wordings from “measured” / “accommodative” pace, used so often in the past to interpret it as a slowdown in rate hikes.
Earlier, Cable was given a breather and reached the peaks of $1.8650 after an unanticipated narrowing of the UK trade deficit to 4.43 billion GBP (forecasts: 4.8 billion), a rise in manufacturing by 0.6% m/m and 1.1% y/y compared to predictions of 0.3% and 0.1% respectively and by a likely upgrade of UK Q4 GDP estimate by 0.1%.
Pitted against the yen, greenback eyes 106 as the next target breach of which may lead to triggering of some stop-loss orders.
Dollar has not been able to cash in further on its multi-month peaks against the majors and a wider than expected trade balance figures (forecast $57 billion) may catch the markets off-guard. Any level lower than $55 billion will be positive for the greenback.