Forex Today: Trump’s impeachment caps dollar gains, Aussie jobs boost AUD; focus on BOE, Brexit drama

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

Here is what you need to know on Thursday, December 19:

US dollar‘s two-day rally across its main competitors was capped after the US House of Representatives voted to impeach President Trump on two accounts. Trump’s impeachment stoked US political uncertainty and lifted the demand for safe-havens such as Gold and yen.

Meanwhile, looming Hard Brexit and trade deal concerns continued to weigh on the market mood. Treasury yields dropped nearly 1% across the curve while Asian equities traded on the back foot alongside the US equity futures.

Across the G10 fx space, the Aussie outperformed and rallied nearly 30-pips following upbeat Australian jobs data while NZD/USD failed to benefit from better NZ growth numbers.

Cable traded modestly flat below 1.3100 ahead of the key event risks – BOE, Queen’s speech and UK Retail Sales. UK Press reported that PM Johnson plans to slash rates for small businesses in Queen's Speech. EUR/USD consolidated in a familiar range below 200-DMA.

Gold advanced towards $ 1480 while Crude oil held the upside near three-month highs.

Cryptocurrencies stalled recovery and turned south, with Bitcoin testing $ 7,100 again.

Author

Dhwani Mehta

FXStreet

Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.

EUR/USD deflates to fresh lows, targets 1.1600

The selling pressure on EUR/USD now gathers extra pace, prompting the pair to hit fresh multi-week lows in the 1.1625-1.1620 band on Friday. The continuation of the downward bias comes in response to further gains in the US Dollar as market participants continue to assess the mixed release of US Nonfarm Payrolls in December.

GBP/USD breaks below 1.3400, challenges the 200-day SMA

GBP/USD remains under heavy fire and retreats for the fourth consecutive day on Friday. Indeed, Cable suffers the strong performance of the Greenback, intensified post-mixed NFP, and trades at shouting distance from its critical 200-day SMA near 1.3380.

Gold flirts with yearly tops around $4,500

Gold keeps its positive bias on Friday, adding to Thursday’s advance and challenging yearly highs in the $4,500 region per troy ounce. The risk-off sentiment favours the yellow metal despite the firmer tone in the Greenback and rising US Treasury yields.