Asian session: The dollar was near a two-week high

00:30 Australia Private Capital Expenditure Quarter IV +3.6% -1.0% -5.2%

The dollar was near a two-week high against a basket of its major peers before Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen speaks today amid prospects the central bank will continue to scale down its bond purchases. Yellen said this month the economy has strengthened enough to withstand cuts to monetary stimulus, adding that only a notable change to the outlook would prompt the Fed to slow the pace of tapering its bond purchases. She is scheduled to testify before the Senate Banking Committee today after it was postponed on Feb. 13 owing to a snow storm.

In the U.S., purchases of new homes gained 9.6 percent last month, exceeding the highest estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg, figures from the Commerce Department showed. Data due today may show jobless claims fell last week by 1,000 while a decline in durable goods orders eased to 1.7 percent in January from 4.2 percent the prior month, economists forecast.

Australia’s currency dropped after business investment fell the most in four years. Capital spending decreased 5.2 percent in the fourth quarter, the most since September 2009, the Bureau of Statistics said in Sydney today.

EUR / USD: during the Asian session, the pair rose to $ 1.3695

GBP / USD: during the Asian session, the pair rose to $ 1.6680

USD / JPY: on Asian session the pair traded in the range of Y102.25-45

German Chancellor Merkel is set to visit the UK, with a keynote speech to both Houses of Parliament expected. Merkel will also hold a press conference with UK Prime Minister David Cameron. The European data calendar kicks off at 0700GMT, with the release of the German January ILO employment data and the January import price index. French consumer confidence data will be released at 0745GMT. That will be followed at 0800GMT with the release of the Spanish fourth quarter GDP data. Further German data will be released at 0855GMT, when the national February unemployment data will be released. The ECB will release EMU January M3 data at 0900GMT. Further EMU data will cross the wire at 1000GMT, with the release of the February business and consumer survey, along with the economic sentiment and business climate indices.

The first of a series of central bank appearances gets underway at 1230GMT, when ECB Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny is slated to give a speech in Vienna. At 1300GMT, ECB Governing Council member Jens Weidmann will give an address in Frankfurt.More central bank speakers appear from 1630GMT, when Bundesbank Board member Andreas Dombret delivers a speech, in Frankfurt. ECB President Mario Draghi will also deliver a speech in Frankfurt from 1830GMT. At 2015GMT, Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart and Kansas City Fed President Esther George will both speak, in Atlanta.

The US calendar will start at 1300GMT, with the release of the revised January building permits numbers. At 1330GMT, the Jobless claims data for the Feb 22 week will be released, along with the January durable goods data. The IMF will hold a regular press briefing in Washington at 1430GMT. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen testifies to the Senate Banking Committee in Washington from 1500GMT. At 1530GMT, the EIA Natural Gas stock data for the Feb 22 week will cross the wires. The February Kansas City Fed Production survey data will be published at 1600GMT. At 2015GMT, Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart and Kansas City Fed President Esther George will both speak, in Atlanta. Late data sees the release of the US M2 money supply data at 2030GMT. Later, the US will sell $29 billion in 7-year paper.