What you should know on Thursday, March 24:
The dollar closed on Wednesday with mixed results, as investors struggled to do anything about the mostly worrying headlines. Higher crude oil prices amid rising tensions between Russia and Western nations weighed on market sentiment.
West Texas Intermediate rose to $115.37 a barrel, while Brent trades at $118.41 a barrel. Gold, on the other hand, advanced within the range, posting intraday gains but remaining below a weekly high of $1,941.24 a troy ounce.
European stocks fell, weighing on their US counterparts. US indices trimmed Tuesday’s losses and ended the day with substantial losses.
Government bonds narrowed their declines, causing yields to retreat from multi-year highs. The 10-year US Treasury bond yield hit a high of 2,417%, later losing about 10 basis points and hurting demand for the dollar.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the US government has formally charged Russian troops with committing war crimes in Ukraine. US President Joe Biden is set to meet with his European NATO counterparts on Thursday and more sanctions against Moscow are expected to be announced. The leaders will also discuss the nuclear deal with Iran.
The pound was among the worst performers, with GBP/USD falling to 1.3147 due to higher UK inflation and the budget report. According to official data, the Consumer Price Index jumped to 6.2% year-on-year in February from 5.5% in the previous month. In addition, Finance Minister Rishi Sunak presented a new budget, which included upward revisions to inflation and downward revisions to growth. Fiscal growth expectations were revised down to 3.8% from 6%. The GBP/USD pair is hovering around 1.3200 at the moment.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that the country would build its own LNG terminals faster than planned as Moscow’s energy bans could put the region into recession. EU consumer confidence slumped to -18.7 in March, according to preliminary estimates. EUR/USD is barely holding above 1.1000.
Commodity-linked currencies benefited from higher oil and gas prices, and also received a late boost from strengthening gold. AUD/USD is flirting with the 0.7500 level, while USD/CAD is trading near a fresh monthly low of 1.2541.
The USD/JPY pair consolidated the gains and sold off just above 121.00, while the USD/CHF moved lower, now trading near the 0.9300 figure.
Source: Fx Street
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