Entering into US session, Swiss Franc is so far the strongest one for today, with a wave of buyers just jumping in. Meanwhile, Sterling remains the weakest one for. MPs and Sterling traders are all unhappy with UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s new Brexit plan announced yesterday. May is having her PMQ at the moment but it’s unlikely to turn the corner. Traders continue to price in risks of no-deal Brexit, after May steps down. Meanwhile, slightly weaker than expected CPI reading in UK also gives the Pound some pressure. On the other hand, mild risk aversion is giving Swiss Franc a lift.
Dollar is mixed as trades await minutes of May 1 FOMC meeting. There, Fed decided to keep interest rates unchanged and more importantly, chair Jerome Powell indicated there is no need to adjust monetary policy in either direction for the near term. Markets would like to dig into details of discussions that might hint on the chance of rate cuts. But based on recent comments by Fed officials, it’s likely to have some strong voices for rate cut during the meeting. Fed policymakers have been generally patient and talked down the imminent need of rate cut.
In Europe, currently:
- FTSE is down -0.13%.
- DAX is down -0.50%.
- CAC is down -0.59%.
- German 10-year yield is down -0.0145 at -0.074.
Earlier in Asia:
- Nikkei rose 0.05%.
- Hong Kong HSI rose 0.18%.
- China Shanghai SSE dropped -0.49%.
- Singapore Strait Times dropped -0.00%.
- Japan 10-year JGB yield dropped -0.0057 to -0.05.
