The Barcelona terror attacks and reinvigorating doubts over the ability for the Trump administration are dominating market sentiment. Asia took a negative handover from the US close and has so far this morning followed suit, as the major equity indices sell off.
On Thursday a van drove into a crowd in Barcelona, 13 people were reportedly killed and many more were injured. The Islamic state has claimed responsibility for these attacks.
On Wednesday President Trump dissolved 2 advisory councils that were composed of top business people, after some of these members had started to resign voluntarily in response to Trump’s reactions during a white nationalist rally. In addition unconfirmed rumors that Trump’s chief economic advisor, Gary Cohn, would leave the Trump administration also helped pressure the situation.
Despite the risk averse mode markets have, the USD experienced a small setback this morning with the largest losses at the time of writing stemming from against the JPY. USDJPY is in descent entering its 3rd consecutive daily loss as the JPY garners support. USDJPY is currently trading at 109.39.
The highlights from Friday’s economic docket are the Canadian CPI and the University of Michigan confidence index.
