EURUSD, H1
The Dollar and Yen have firmed up amid a risk-off turn in global markets as tensions between the US and China bubble up. The US Senate yesterday passed a bill in support of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters, to which Beijing responded sharply, accusing Washington of being ignorant of “facts and truths” while threatening retaliation for interfering with what it sees as its internal affairs. This comes with little sign of the long since tabled, and unambitious, “Phase 1” partial trade deal coming to fruition. Sources cited by Reuters report that US President Trump is wanting deeper concessions from China in return for making a full roll back of tariffs and cancelling additional tariffs scheduled to take effect on 15 December.
Against this backdrop, the Yen has seen its risk premium rise, albeit moderately so. USDJPY ebbed to a six-day low at 108.35, with the Japanese currency outperforming an otherwise firm Dollar. EURJPY posted a six-day low, and other Yen crosses also declined. The narrow trade-weighted USD Index printed a two-day high at 97.93, putting in some distance from the 15-day low seen on Monday at 97.68. EURUSD concurrently saw a two-day low at 1.1055, and Cable a three-day low at 1.2888, with last night’s General Election debate seen as a “draw” but with the Conservatives coming under criticism for misleading the public after it rebranded one of its Twitter accounts to “factcheckUK”.
Sharp declines in oil prices, where concerns of a supply glut have run into concerns about the US-China situation, have driven underperformance in the Canadian Dollar, lifting USDCAD to a near six-week high at 1.3296. The pair is up nearly 1% from yesterday’s lows. USOil futures have dropped by 4% over the last two days, yesterday posting the biggest one-day tumble in seven weeks and testing $55.00. The Australian and New Zealand Dollars are also lower, though by a lesser extent, and most developing-nation currencies are softer.
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Stuart Cowell
Head Market Analyst
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