The US Dollar has inched slightly higher this morning, bringing some relief to the currency with The Dollar having experienced its weakest month in over two years, due to the uncertainty caused by Trump’s tariffs. The slight retracement came after comments from the White House seemed to suggest a softening on auto tariffs.
The back and forth from Trump on tariffs is another example of his administration retreating from the basket of tariffs laid down earlier this month that set the flame for investors to dump their US assets and begin the horrid month for USD.
All eyes again will be sticking with Dollar nominated releases, with the advance GDP estimate for the final quarter of the financial year due out later today. Expectations suggest this quarter will show the weakest growth rate in nearly 3 years. The other two key releases come in the form of ADP Employment figures for April, and Core PCE for March which is even more important given it is the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure.
Euro-USD is still struggling to gain any real momentum above 1.14 and had dropped 0.1% yesterday. However, April is proving to be the best monthly performance for the currency since November 2022. German retail sales fell less than expected last month, while French GDP rose by 0.8% in the first quarter against last year’s figures.
Keeping focus with the Euro, growth data for the Bloc as a whole, along with German Inflation numbers are due later today. Both sets of releases will be watched closely as a further drop in price rises by heighten calls for The European Central Bank to cut rates even more. Markets are currently expecting another round of interest rate cuts in June.
GBP/EUR 1.1747 GBP/USD 1.3359 GBP/AED 4.9092
GBP/AUD 2.0897 GBP/CHF 1.1022 GBP/CAD 1.8489
GBP/NZD 2.2563 EUR/USD 1.1359 GBP/ZAR 24.9052