Summary
The Day So Far
GBP has remained under pressure with Cable printing a fresh 7-week low following the second defeat for Theresa May’s Brexit strategy with the Lords backing an amendment to the Article 50 bill with a vote of 366 to 268. Although the amendments are likely to be rejected in the Lower House when discussed next week, the procedure, otherwise known as “ping-pong”, makes little difference to the overall outcome of the Article being triggered by month-end.
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AUD/USD eases toward 0.7050 after RBA minutes
AUD/USD inches lower toward 0.7050 in Tuesday's Asian trading, reacting little to the RBA February Minutes, which reinforced a tightening bias. The hawkish outlook, however, fails to provide any impetus to the Australian Dollar as the timing of the next rate hike is unclear. In contrast, bets for more rate cuts by the Fed keep the US Dollar bulls on the defensive and act as a tailwind for the Aussie amid the underlying bullish sentiment.
USD/JPY falls back toward 153.00 as Japanese Yen finds its feet
USD/JPY has turned south to test the 153.00 level after having faced resistance near the 153.75 zone in Asian trading on Tuesday. The divergent BoJ-Fed policy expectations offer some support to the Japanese Yen. That said, Japan's weak Q4 GDP print, released on Monday, tempered bets for an immediate BoJ rate hike. This, along with the underlying bullish sentiment, could limit the pair's downside.
Gold declines as trading volumes remain subdued due to holidays in China
Gold price extends its losses for the second successive session, trading around $4,930 per troy ounce during the Asian hours on Tuesday. Gold price is trading nearly 0.7% lower at the time of writing as trading volumes stayed thin due to market holidays across China, Hong Kong, and other parts of Asia.
AI Crypto Update: Bittensor eyes breakout as AI tokens falter
The artificial intelligence (AI) cryptocurrency segment is witnessing heightened volatility, with top tokens such as Near Protocol (NEAR) struggling to gain traction amid the persistent decline in January and February.
The week ahead: Key inflation readings and why the AI trade could be overdone
It is likely to be a quiet start to the week, with US markets closed on Monday for Presidents Day. European markets are higher across the board and gold is clinging to the $5,000 level after the tamer than expected CPI report in the US reduced haven flows to precious metals.
Here is what you need to know for Tuesday, February 17:
Major currency pairs traded little changed on Monday as stock and bond markets in the United States (US) remained closed due to the Presidents' Day holiday.