The 'Dollar Index' gained 0.4% to 109.35E (the Euro lost 0.2% on Friday), but gave up 0.3% for the week: no major change, however, as the uptrend remains unchanged.

The 'fact of the day' did not materialize in currencies, but in crypto-currencies, with Bitcoin at $105,800 (versus $90,000 at the start of the week)... which is literally rocketing upwards to retrace its historic zenith of December 17.
Up +16% on Monday's lows and +8% since Wednesday: investors are once again betting on Donald Trump's implicit promise to build up a strategic reserve of crypto-assets alongside the trillions of Treasury bonds and other MBS held by the FED.
And Bitcoin wasn't the 'bullish' one in the crypto universe this week, as Dogecoin (backed by Elon Musk) jumped +25%, 'Ripple' (or 'XRP') took +40%, and even registered an all-time high on Thursday at $3.3950 against $2.34 last Friday (i.e. +45%).

It's hard not to evoke animal spirits... which takes us a long way from the economic realities of the moment, i.e. the $36,464 billion in federal debt and the $1,200 billion in interest the USA has to pay its creditors.
This burden is taking a back seat in the eyes of traders, as the war is still not over in Europe, and the ECB is preparing to cut interest rates at least twice between now and June in an attempt to revive sluggish growth, or even nonexistent growth in Germany.
The Fed, on the other hand, will be content with a maximum of 2 rate cuts over the current year, and perhaps just one if other figures as 'robust' as those published this Friday come out in the coming weeks.

US industrial production rose by 0.9% in December according to the Fed (more than expected), after a modest +0.1% in November.
The Fed notes that 'higher aircraft and parts production contributed 0.2 percentage points to this growth following the resolution of a work stoppage at a major aircraft manufacturer (i.e. Boeing)'.

Also according to the Federal Reserve, the capacity utilization rate in US industry improved by 0.6 points to 77.6% in December, a level still 2.1 points below its long-term average (1972-2023)

the Commerce Department reports a 15.8% jump in US housing starts in December 2024 compared with the previous month, to an annualized rate of 1,499,000.

U.S. building permits - which are supposed to be a precursor of future housing starts - fell by 0.7% to 1,483,000 last month.
In Europe, the final figure for December consumer prices in the euro zone came in at +2.2%, compared with 2.4% last month, a recovery mainly attributable to base effects affecting energy prices, which should not worry the ECB too much.



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