North American Summary and Highlights 23 Mar
Overview - The USD slipped after Trump postponed an assault on Iranian power plants, claiming progress was being made in talks with Iran, though Iran talks were taking place.
European and North American sessions
The USD advanced in early European trade, before making a sharp reversal as Trump announced he had postponed threatened strikes on Iranian power plants for five days given productive conversations with Iran. While Iran denied such conversations had taken place, a TACO trade on Trump’s apparent climb down was seen, supported by further comments from Trump during the North American session. Oil fell sharply while equites rallied and bond yields slipped.
USD/JPY fell from a high of 159.66 to test 158 in the North American afternoon. EUR/USD rose from a low of 1.1485 to a high of 1.1640. EUR/GBP fell to .8645 from .8670 but EUR/CHF rebounded to .9130 after a brief dip below .91. AUD/USD bounced a big figure from a low of .6911 but USD/CAD was little changed near 1.3725.
US data showed a 0.3% decline in January construction spending outweighed by upward revisions to November and December, Fed’s Goolsbee saw inflation as a bigger concern than unemployment but Miran continued to project four rate cuts in 2025.