Forex News

The US dollar ended the week mixed. While the week was expected to be important for markets due to several important events, the actual market mover was unexpected worsening of trade tensions between the United States and China.

The Chinese yuan is weakening against multiple currency rivals at the end of the trading week. The yuan’s slide is being driven by another escalation in the ongoing US-China trade spat. Expectations of bearish industrial profits and manufacturing data have also contributed to the currency’s latest dip.

The Mexican peso fell versus the US dollar today despite the greenback was soft itself. The likely reason for the peso’s weakness was Mexico’s poor macroeconomic data. Escalation of the US-China trade war also had a very negative impact on the currency.

The US dollar gained against its Australian and Canadian counterparts but otherwise was rather soft today. There were plenty of reasons for the dollar’s weakness: the outlook for interest rate cuts, escalation of the US-China trade war, and poor US housing data.

The Canadian dollar today rallied against its American counterpart following the release of upbeat Canadian retail sales data for June, but the rally was short-lived. The USD/CAD currency pair today extended its gains from yesterday as the US dollar proved to be much stronger against the loonie driven by several factors including the less-dovish Fed minutes.

The New Zealand dollar rallied against other most-traded currencies today after the release of retail sales data and comments for the central bank’s chief. The currency has trimmed its gains by now but is still trading above the opening level.

The Japanese yen was rather soft today, falling against riskier commodity currencies as well as the US dollar. The yen managed, though, to hold ground versus the euro and to gain on some other European currencies, like the Great Britain pound and the Swiss franc. The miss of an inflation figure was one of the possible reasons for the yen’s weakness.

The euro was relatively firm today, though the currency fell against some of its rivals, most notably the extremely strong Great Britain pound. Fundamentals clashed, with positive macro releases pushing the currency up but the dovish stance of the European central bank driving it down.

The British pound today exploded higher after the German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed optimism that the Irish backstop issue could be resolved by October 31st. The GBP/USD currency pair rallied to new monthly highs above the crucial 2.2250 level as traders bought the Sterling in anticipation that her remarks would help prevent a no-deal Brexit scenario.

The Indonesian rupiah was about flat versus the US dollar today after Indonesia’s central bank lowered interest rates.