An upbeat speech from Jerome Powell, the Chairman of the US Federal Reserve Bank, helped to improve risk sentiment and sent the Dollar, as a safe haven currency, lower. Mr. Powell defended the Fed's intent to raise interest rates even further later this year, despite the US President's clear disapproval of any additional rate hikes. Powell said that the healthy US economy warranted the need for a tightening monetary cycle, even at the risk of higher borrowing costs. Paradoxically, despite Mr. Powell's assurances, Dollar bulls seemed disappointed that the Fed statement wasn't more hawkish.
As reported at 11:00 am (JST) in Tokyo, the EUR/USD was trading at $1.16495, a gain of 0.05% and off the session peak of $1.16537. The GBP/USD was up 0.08% at $1.2849; the pair has ranged from $1.2834 to $1.2865 in the latest session.
NAFTA News Encouraging
News that trade negotiators from Mexico and the United States are moving well toward settling differences on the NAFTA pact have helped to provide a solid boost to the Mexican Peso. The USD/MXN was trading at 18.7811 Mexican Pesos, down 0.5765%; earlier, the paid had hit a trough of 18.77310 Pesos. At the other side of the NAFTA issue, namely relative to the Canadian Dollar, the USD/CAD pair is trading at C$1.30158, down 0.03227%; in the session, the pair has ranged from C$1.30077 to C$1.30290.