Oil prices have slipped from multi-year highs earlier this morning after U.S President Donald Trump stated that The U.S could withdraw completely from the conflict within the next two to three weeks, going even further to say that Iran doesn’t have to make a deal.
Trump is even considering ending the conflict even if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, after slamming both The UK and European partners in a tweet telling these countries to sort out their own Oil. Off the back of this we’ve seen the Dollar lose some momentum against both Euro & GBP, but markets are still cautious due to the potential global trade supply of oil if the Strait of Hormuz was to remain closed. Prospects for a peace deal between the U.S and Iran remain uncertain due to key sticking points, most notably Iran’s internal power structure, the leverage surrounding the Strait of Hormuz and tensions rising further across the region.
Switching our focus to economic data, at the turn of the hour we have the unemployment rate for Europe with figures set to stay unchanged at 6.1%. However, with Germany’s unemployment coming out more than double the preferred rate yesterday, at 8.5%, we may see an uptick in Europe’s overall figure. If this is reflected in this mornings release then we may see further pressure on Euro-based currency pairs.
As we move into this afternoons session, the economic data is heavily weighed towards the U.S with ADP Employment figures, February’s Retail Sales and ISM Manufacturing numbers set to be released. Whilst both Retail Sales and ISM Manufacturing confidence is set to increase, ADP Employment figures which measure the job creation in the private sector, set to show a drop in created jobs by 23,000 compared to February.
GBP/EUR 1.1445 GBP/USD 1.3262 GBP/AED 4.8730
GBP/AUD 1.9125 GBP/CHF 1.0529 GBP/CAD 1.8433
GBP/NZD 2.3047 EUR/USD 1.1577 GBP/ZAR 22.3774