Forex today: mixed mood for the dollar, eyes on Washington, Sterling bid

Forex today saw the US dollar juggled about in a mixed mood from traders who are becoming dubious over a fickle communication from the White House with respect to the promised tax reforms. 

However, that didn't stop Wall Street bulls getting excited on the comments from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin who hopes for a tax overhaul by the end of the year. He also hinted that the Trump administration could consider backdating the tax reform to the start of 2017. 

Meanwhile, besides the US JOLTS positive surprise, there really wasn't much for traders to go on today other than trade the relief of Hurricane Irma shifting course over the weekend. Bond prices dropped and investors were finding more reasons to turn risk on. As a result, the US benchmark ten-year yields closed +1.64% higher and the DXY was +0.06%.

Sterling took the show earlier with the UK CPI beat raising prospects for a BoE in the near future and the possibility of MPC voting member Haldane voting for a hike and joining members Ian McCafferty and Michael Saunders who will likely vote in favor of an immediate 25bp rate rise again. GBP ended higher +0.91% but had traded just 2 pips shy from 1.33 the figure as the high for the U.S. session. 

Other majors were closing in the green with the euro +0.09% vs the dollar and +0.80% vs the yen. As for safe havens, such as the JPY, it was down -0.72% and the CHF ended -0.45%. Gold was pretty much flat on the day, +0.03%. AUD -0.10% and Kiwi +0.48%.  

Key events for the Asia session

There are no scheduled key events

Key notes from US session

• Wall Street extends gains on the back financials
• GBP/USD headed for post UK PM May driven 2016 Sep highs, 1.3445?
• US: Hiring intentions remained strong ahead of disruptions - Wells Fargo
• US: Job openings (6.2 million), hires, and separations little changed in July
• US Treasury Sec. Mnuchin: Hopeful that tax reform will be done by end of 2017