The dollar hit a one-month high against a basket of currencies on Thursday, helped by hopes that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration may be making progress on tax reforms.
The Dollar Index touched a high of 93.613 at one point, its strongest level since Aug. 23. Together with upbeat durable goods orders, the Dollar was given a good reason to rise.
Euro took a hit yesterday as the ECB Draghi commentary hurt the outlook towards the ECB timeline to tweak their Monetary policy, seeing lows in the EUR around 1.1720.
The big driver is also the German election results being a little unclear, plus the big rally in the USD. Brent crude oil has risen above $59 a barrel to its highest in more than two years, lifted by fast-growing demand and a threat to Iraqi Kurdistan’s crude exports as the autonomous region holds a referendum on independence.
The Sterling was alive yesterday breaking down under 1.3400 being a 2-week low.
The downgrade of UK on Friday hurt the GBP generally, in relation to their Brexit process, but the main catalyst in the GBP/USD being sold, was the USD strength and the Theresa May speech in Europe on Friday evening, hurting sentiment & outlook. It now trades at 1.3368 with support seen at 1.3330
Gold jumped into action and slammed lower yesterday as the USD strength was underestimated in a big way, catching traders off guard.
The combined forces of North Korea calming down the risk theme plus the USD strength, saw prices in Gold sharply lower, from 1313 in a sustained sell down to 1278 at time of writing.
Bitcoin has traded sharply higher yesterday, up from $3700 towards that headline next resistance at $4370.
In the short-term, a break through the $4000 level is key for sustained moves higher, but we must be careful because Volatility is extreme, such is the price action back to 3900 after yesterday’s highs around 4260
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