Asian Open

Trade optimism send the US dollar higher for a second day, and sending demand for the Japanese yen and Swiss franc lower. This bodes well for my bullish outlook for USD/JPY and USD/CHF.

The solid rebound for the Australian dollar over the past two weeks is showing signs of losing steam, with AUD/USD forming a bearish outside day on Tuesday thanks to comments from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent boosting the US dollar.

As market depth thins into Easter, AUD/USD and USD/JPY are lining up for potentially explosive moves. With big data and central bank risks ahead, traders should watch the near-term price action closely.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will speak on the U.S. economic outlook before the Economic Club of Chicago on Wednesday. And if we maintains his "wait and see" approach Fed members are generally aligned with regarding tariffs, it could help the US dollar extend its bounce seen on Tuesday.

With the BOC on alert for higher inflation, with key CPI metrics already curling higher, USD/CAD traders will keep a close eye on the latest CPI figures to drop on Tuesday. The US dollar index and USD/CAD also look set for at least a small bounce over the near term.

The Swiss franc is surging, sending USD/CHF down to levels not seen since the SNB removed the peg from the euro. Its safe-haven buddy gold is also knocking on the door of its all-time high, with futures gapping up at the open.

President Trump made an unexpected reversal on Wednesday by temporarily lowering tariffs on many of the countries he had just imposed them on. Risk surged, seeing the Nasdaq achieve its fourth best day in history and AUD/USD marked its best day in 15 years.

All eyes are on how China responds to Trump’s 104% tariff. With the numbers already becoming meaningless, the Australian dollar could get dragged a lot lower with a yuan devaluation, with AUD/CHF leading the bearish stampede amid Swiss franc strength.

A flurry of contradictory tariff headlines and a close-door Fed meeting made for another lively start to the week, but there are tentative signs of stability (at least by recent standards) on AUD/JPY and Wall Street indices.

To say markets were volatile on Thursday following the confirmation of Trump’s tariffs would be quite an understatement. Wall Street futures suffered their worst day since the pandemic, the US dollar tumbled and even gold had a rough day for once. But it is worth nothing the CHF outperformed JPY for safe haven flows, amid an extremely volatile day for currency traders.

A mixed response of Trump's tariffs saw gold reach a record high, EUR/USD and GBP/USD move their separate ways and Wall Street futures suffer their worst hour's trade since October 2022. It is now down to how world leaders respond as to how their domestic markets will perform from here.