Forex Today: Nothing to cheer, dollar strong

Valeria Bednarik FXStreet

What you need to take care of on Friday, April 8:

The market’s mood remained sour as the focus remained on central banks’ hawkishness and tensions between Russia and the western world. The US has widened its actions against Moscow, hitting Russian Sberbank and Alfa Bank and prohibiting investment in the country by American companies. The EU, in the meantime, backed a Russian coal embargo, although without officially confirming it. The dollar remained strong.

On Thursday, Ukraine has presented a new agreement proposal, although it includes discussing the situation of Crimea and Donbass, something that Russia considers unacceptable.

The European Central Bank released the Accounts of its latest meeting. The document showed that policymakers believe the bond-buying program has now fulfilled its objective, and by ending it in the summer, it would clear the way for a 3Q rate hike.

Asian and European equities closed in the red, but Wall Street managed to recover some ground after two days of sharp losses. At the same time, government bond yields held at the upper end of the range, with the 10-year US Treasury note yielding 2.65% by the end of the day.

The EUR/USD pair trades around 1.0870, while GBP/USD stands at 1.3070. The dollar appreciated against its safe-haven rivals, with USD/CHF trading at 0.8340 and USD/JPY near 124.00.

Commodity-linked shed some ground, with AUD/USD down to 0.7470 and USD/CAD up to 1.2585.

Cardano price ready to breakout with the arrival of bonds on the Ethereum-killer’s blockchain

Like this article? Help us with some feedback by answering this survey:

Author

Valeria Bednarik

FXStreet

Valeria Bednarik was born and lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her passion for math and numbers pushed her into studying economics in her younger years.

EUR/USD flirts with daily highs, retargets 1.1900

EUR/USD regains upside traction, returning to the 1.1880 zone and refocusing its attention to the key 1.1900 barrier. The pair’s slight gains comes against the backdrop of a humble decline in the US Dollar as investors continue to assess the latest US CPI readings and the potential Fed’s rate path.

GBP/USD remains well bid around 1.3650

GBP/USD maintains its upside momentum in place, hovering around daily highs near 1.3650 and setting aside part of the recent three-day drop. Cable’s improved sentiment comes on the back of the Greenback’s irresolute price action, while recent hawkish comments from the BoE’s Pill also collaborate with the uptick.

Gold clings to gains just above $5,000/oz

Gold is reclaiming part of the ground lost on Wednesday’s marked decline, as bargain-hunters keep piling up and lifting prices past the key $5,000 per troy ounce. The precious metal’s move higher is also underpinned by the slight pullback in the US Dollar and declining US Treasury yields across the curve.

Crypto Today: Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP in choppy price action, weighed down by falling institutional interest

Bitcoin's upside remains largely constrained amid weak technicals and declining institutional interest. Ethereum trades sideways above $1,900 support with the upside capped below $2,000 amid ETF outflows.

Week ahead – Data blitz, Fed Minutes and RBNZ decision in the spotlight

US GDP and PCE inflation are main highlights, plus the Fed minutes. UK and Japan have busy calendars too with focus on CPI. Flash PMIs for February will also be doing the rounds. RBNZ meets, is unlikely to follow RBA’s hawkish path.

Ripple Price Forecast: XRP potential bottom could be in sight

Ripple edges up above the intraday low of $1.35 at the time of writing on Friday amid mixed price actions across the crypto market. The remittance token failed to hold support at $1.40 the previous day, reflecting risk-off sentiment amid a decline in retail and institutional sentiment.