Forex Today: Major pairs trade in familiar ranges as focus shifts to US and Canada data

Pipscollector -Here is what you need to know on Tuesday, July 18:

• Following Monday's choppy action, major currency pair struggle to make a decisive move in either direction early Tuesday.
• The US economic docket will feature Retail Sales and Industrial Production data for June.
• Market participants will also keep a close eye on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures from Canada in the second half of the day. 

Main events

During the Asian trading hours, China’s Commerce Ministry announced that they will encourage companies to create online service platforms for household consumer services and that they will step up credit support for household goods consumption. This development failed to help the risk mood improve and the Shanghai Composite Index closed in negative territory after having lost nearly 1% on Monday. Meanwhile, US stock index futures trade modestly lower following the bullish action seen in Wall Street's main indexes on the first trading day of the week.

The US Dollar Index continues to trade below 100.00, pressured by a more-than-1% decline in the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield. Retail Sales in the US are forecast to rise 0.5% in June.

US Retail Sales expected to surge in June, deliver potential US Dollar relief.

The Minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia's July monetary policy meeting showed that policymakers agreed some further tightening may be required and that they would reconsider a potential rate hike at the August meeting. AUD/USD edged higher in the Asian session but struggled to gather momentum. At the time of press, the pair was virtually unchanged on the day slightly above 0.6800.

EUR/USD climbed to its highest level since February 2022 at 1.1276 early Tuesday but retreated to the 1.1250 area.

GBP/USD registered small losses on Monday but managed to shake off the bearish pressure. As of writing, the pair was moving sideways in a narrow channel below 1.3100. 

Canada CPI Preview: Forecasts from five major banks, better inflation, but not yet good enough.

On a yearly basis, the CPI in Canada is forecast to edge lower to 3.5% in June from 3.7% in May. USD/CAD stays in a consolidation phase at around 1.3200 ahead of key inflation data.

Following Monday's recovery attempt, USD/JPY came under renewed bearish pressure and was last seen trading in negative territory near 138.00.

Gold benefits from falling US Treasury yields early Tuesday and trades at its highest level in a month above $1,960.

Bitcoin stays on the back foot and trades below $30,000 early Tuesday. Ethereum closed the fourth straight day in negative territory on Monday and was last seen losing nearly 1% on the day slightly below $1,900.