Here is what you need to know on Wednesday, August 19:
The US dollar showed some signs of life early Wednesday, as the sell-off to 27-month trough stalled on renewed hopes of US fiscal stimulus and following the official announcement of Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee for the US Presidential elections. A senior US official said that he sees a ‘real desire’ by some Democrats and Republicans to reach an agreement on a smaller stimulus deal of around $500 billion.
The mixed tone in the Asian equities, despite the rally to seven-month tops, also underpinned the sentiment around the greenback. Meanwhile, looming uncertainty around the US-China trade talks lifted the dollar’s haven demand. US President Donald Trump said that he postponed the trade talks while White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows confirmed that the trade talks are not scheduled for now.
The dollar bounce, however, lacked support from the US Treasury yields, which remained pressured amid looming economic concerns and ahead of the FOMC July meeting’s minutes.
EUR/USD corrected further from a two-year high of 1.1966 to trade flat at 1.1930 while USD/JPY bounced-back above 105.50.
AUD/USD remained sidelined below 0.7250 amid vaccine optimism and Australian-Sino tensions. NZD/USD also followed suit and meandered in lows around 0.6600.
USD/CAD held steady above 1.3150, helped by the dollar pullback and oil-price weakness. WTI was offered below $43 despite the unexpected draw in the API crude stockpiles.
GBP/USD consolidated the retreat from seven-month highs of 1.3264 ahead of the UK CPI data. The seventh round of Brexit negotiations starts on Tuesday. Fears of another failed attempt to reach a Brexit deal, with the seventh round of negotiations underway, cautioned the bulls.
Gold traded with mild losses below the $2000 mark, having closed above that level on Tuesday.
Cryptocurrencies witnessed correction across the board, with Bitcoin heading towards $11,500.
Share
