North American Summary and Highlights 25 Mar
Overview - The USD picked up with the US and Iran clearly remaining far apart regarding any potential peace deal.
European and North American sessions
Early optimism on hopes to an end to the war in the Middle East faded in North America, with Iran rejecting US peace proposals and later the US subsequently threatening to strike Iran again. Oil came off early lows and the USD advanced, though UST yields remained lower and equities higher. USD/JPY pushed above 159 to touch 159.50 while EUR/USD fell below 1.16 to near 1.1560. USD/CAD moved above 1.38 and AUD/USD slipped to .6950.
US data showed a narrower than expected Q4 current account deficit of $190.7bn from $239.1bn in Q3 supported by a bounce in investment income. February saw strong gains in import and export prices, by 1.3% and 1.5% respectively. Earlier UK CPI was as expected at 3.0% yr/yr in February, unchanged from January. EUR/GBP saw marginal losses but GBP/USD gains were erased and more as the USD picked up. EUR/CHF kept to a tight range.