Japan finance minister Shun'ichi Suzuki says he will continue to carefully monitor moves in FX. The comment comes at a time, however, whereby the US Dollar is falling and the Yen rising sharply:
Author
Ross J Burland
FXStreet
Ross J Burland, born in England, UK, is a sportsman at heart. He played Rugby and Judo for his county, Kent and the South East of England Rugby team.
GBP/USD leaves behind Friday’s small pullback and advances past 1.3250 level, or five-day highs, on Monday. Cable’s upside follows extra losses in the Greenback, while traders continue to assess the geopolitical front and upcoming key events.
The EUR/USD pair trades with mild losses around 1.1415 during the early Asian session on Tuesday. The Euro softens against the US Dollar as traders reduce their bets on the European Central Bank rate hikes this year.
Gold remains under strong selling pressure for the second straight day early Tuesday, refreshing seven-month lows below $3,950. Renewed US-Iran hostilities over the weekend cast doubts over the sustainability of the peace deal. This, along with elevated expectations for Fed rate hikes, offers some support to the US Dollar and undermines the bullion.
Bitcoin is trading around the $60,000 level on Monday after a sharp decline last week. With the top crypto struggling to recover, analysts suggest the market remains firmly in defensive territory as investors await stronger signs of demand.
When talking about central bank independence, most of the focus has been on Donald Trump’s pressure on the Federal Reserve. But a similar story, a quieter one for now, seems to be happening on the other side of the Pacific: Japan’s government may be testing the Bank of Japan’s independence.
Financial markets could find an important catalyst in the enchanting, fairytale-like landscape of Sintra this week. The ECB Forum will, as it does every year, gather the crème de la crème of central banks. The new boss at the Fed, who has clearly said that the Fed should stop explaining everything, will need to talk – and traders should listen.
