NY Fed's GDP Nowcast rose to 1.7% for first quarter of 2020 from 1.5%

The US economy is expected to expand by 1.7% in the first quarter of 2020, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's latest Nowcasting Report showed.

"News from this week’s data increased the nowcast for 2020:Q1 by 0.2 percentage point," the publication read. "Positive surprises from higher-than-expected exports and imports data were only partially offset by negative surprises from the ISM manufacturing survey."

USD outperforms major rivals

Supported by this week's upbeat macroeconomic data releases, the US Dollar Index gained traction and rose to its highest level since early October at 98.70 on Friday. On a weekly basis, the index is up 1.35%.