US President-elect Trump’s first news conference in six months failed to yield anything of substance for pushed the US Dollar to a 5-week trough while sending investors to the safe haven Yen. Investors had hoped that Trump would provide some details on the policy and plans he intends to implement when he takes office on January 20th but it became clear very quickly that he had no firm plans to implement his promised agenda and thus there was no new catalyst to keep the greenback elevated. Trump had promised that he would promote growth through increased fiscal spending and by implementing tax measures to encourage the return of US corporate capital which is now invested overseas.
As reported at 10:28 am (GMT) in London, the USD/JPY was trading lower at 114.234 Yen, down 1.02%; the pair had hit a session low at 113.7300 Yen while the peak was established at 115.51 Yen. The EUR/USD was up at $1.0628, a gain of 0.32% while the GBP/USD was up 0.51% to trade at $1.2259.
Commodity-Linked Currencies Strengthen
Commodity-linked currencies moved higher in European trade with the AUD/USD up 0.81% to trade at $0.7503 and the NZD/USD was at $0.7112, a gain of 0.71%. The USD/CAD was down at C$1.3058, a loss of 0.92%. In general, the US Dollar index had skidded another 0.8% and is currently trading at 101.160 .DXY, down 0.61%; earlier the Index had hit a low of 100.98 .DX. The Index is used to weigh the relative value of the greenback against a weighted basket of major peers.