The US Dollar index, an index showing the strength of the USD against a basket of major currencies, is heading lower so far this morning and is currently trading at 93.41. Yesterday the index hit the highest since mid-August following a 2-week rally fuelled by an expected end-of-year rate hike and news of Trump’s much awaited tax cuts.
Come next February there will be a changing of the guard at the Federal Reserve, were Janet Yellen will step down as her term expires. Speculation on who the person to replace her will be has been swaying sentiment and in addition we still have to see a deal on the tax cuts proposed recently by the Trump administration.
The weaker USD has given both the euro and the JPY some reprieve from the losses recently suffered against the buck. EURUSD is currently trading at 1.1767 and the USDJPY is at 112.61.
Sentiment in Asia is looking mixed this morning with most of the major equity indices heading North, but with the Australian ASX200 heading lower.
Later today we have EZ and UK services PMIs, EZ retail sales, and US ISM Services.
