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In the middle of the week, the RBNZ opted to leave its primary interest rate unchanged at 1.75%, where the central bank expects it to remain for a “considerable period.” Governor Orr and company noted that there were both upside and downside risks to inflation; therefore, the next change to interest rates could either be higher or lower.

Sentiment turned positive apparently on renewed hopes over a US-China trade deal, as the third round of talks between the two parties since Presidents Trump and Xi agreed on a truce in December 2018, concluded.

Today’s latest macro pointers from some of the major developed economies have disappointed expectations – quite badly, in some cases – fuelling fears over an economic slowdown.

The EUR/USD and other euro crosses remain pressured by growing signs of a slowdown in the Eurozone economy. An interest rate increase in Q3 looks increasingly unlikely now given the recent fundamental developments — or lack thereof — with the Brexit situation still unresolved and the Eurozone economy ailing.

Despite the Federal Reserve dropping its hawkish bias, the US dollar has been quite resilient. The closely-watched Dollar Index rose for the eighth consecutive day until yesterday when it was hit by profit-taking, before rebounding again today

After being hit by profit-taking yesterday, the US dollar was trading mixed on Wednesday morning when this report was written. The greenback was holding its own well against the euro and the pound but was down against some commodity dollars. FX market participants were looking forward to US consumer inflation data, due for release at 13:30 GMT (08:3...

If you had checked USD/CHF’s exchange rate at Friday’s close and a mere 30 minutes after Monday’s open, you wouldn’t think anything was amiss…at least if you didn’t have any stop losses within 100 pips!

The major FX pairs further extended their losses earlier this morning, before rebounding to turn green on the day as North American participants slowly made their way to their trading stations.

When you consider that the US dollar is again on the rise, stocks are firmer and government bonds are down, you would expect to see the safe-haven and buck-denominated metal struggle. Yet, it is outperforming all the major dollar pairs.

FX trade is well underway for the week, and so far, last week’s theme of US dollar strength has carried over into this session’s trade. The most interesting development among the major currencies is today’s big breakout above 110.00 in USD/JPY, a move that’s taken the pair to its highest level year-to-date.

After a big rebound in January, the US stock markets appear a little tired. Investors are weighing the negative impact of soft economic data on future company earnings against the positive impact of interest rates remaining low for longer, with several major central banks recently turning dovish.

Next week could be even more volatile given that China will return after being out in observance of the spring festival for the whole of this week. In addition, there will be lots of potentially market-moving data to look forward to, not least growth figures from Germany.