Forex Today: Dollar bears and risk flows dominate, focus on UK politics, ZEW

Here is what you need to know on Tuesday, October 18:

The US dollar resumes its bearish momentum on Tuesday, having lost the recovery momentum in the Asian session, as risk flows extend into the second straight day following the UK's dramatic U-turn over the tax-slashing mini-budget. The US S&P 500 futures, the risk barometer, is gaining roughly 1.70% so far while the Asian indices rally 1.20% to 1.80%, led by the rebound in the Chinese stocks.

In early dealing, China’s stocks turned south after the country’s junk dollar bonds dropped to a record low, as a property market crisis sparked by a crackdown on excessive borrowing. Meanwhile, Chinese traders digested comments from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The US official said on Monday, China has made a decision to seize Taiwan on a “much faster timeline” than previously thought.

Across the fx board, the Kiwi dollar emerges as the strongest heading into the European open, followed by its Antipodean partner, the aussie. Meanwhile, the yen pulled away from 32-year highs above 149.05 against the US dollar, dragged lower by weaker Treasury yields and Japanese verbal intervention. Top Japanese officials continued their jawboning, reiterating that they are ready to take necessary steps to avoid undesirable, as they watch the FX price action with a sense of urgency. USD/JPY was last seen trading around 148.85, consolidating the upside before the next push higher.

NZD/USD surges over 1% to challenge 0.5700, as hotter New Zealand’s Q3 Consumer Price Index (CPI) ramped up bigger RBNZ rate hike expectations. NZ inflation rose by 2.2% QoQ in the third quarter, beating expectations of a 1.6% increase. Meanwhile, the annualized inflation eased from a 32-year high of 7.3% to 7.2%, although outpaced expectations of +6.6%.

Hawkish comments from RBA Assistant Governor Michele Bullock and RBA minutes underpin the sentiment around the AUD/USD pair, as they suggest the need for more rate increases in the coming months. EUR/USD also capitalized on retreating Treasury yields and a renewed broad-based US dollar selling, having recaptured the 0.9850 barrier. Although bulls remain cautious ahead of the German and Eurozone ZEW sentiment surveys. Germany’s Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Monday that “with fiscal policy in place, they can avoid deep recession in Europe without fuelling inflation.”

GBP/USD is fading an uptick above 1.1400, as investors assess the Financial Times (FT) report that stated the Bank of England (BOE) is set to delay quantitative tightening (QT) worth £838bn until bond markets calm. The report comes after the new UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt ditched almost all of the mini-budget announced by PM Liz Truss on September 23. The gains in cable appear short-lived, as PM Truss braces for political challenges, with Tory backbenchers preparing to oust her.

Gold is holding its recovery momentum above the $1,650 barrier but is likely to remain in a defined range until buyers reclaim the critical $1,670 hurdle. The softer dollar keeps lending support to the metal.

Bitcoin price is gradually pushing higher while above $19,500 but bulls stay cautious amid a wall fall of healthy resistance levels on a daily timeframe.