The US Dollar Index, viewed as a solid gauge of the relative weight of the greenback, had edged away from Wednesday’s 4-week low of 93.402 .DXY but continues to remain close at 93.556 .DXY. Despite the greenback’s slight improvement, market players remain wary of the Trump administration’s ability to get solid backing for its tax reform proposal, even from Trump’s own Republican party. Though the US House of Representatives did manage to get the votes to push the proposal through, there is some uncertainty as to whether there will be a similar outcome on the Senate side where the Republicans hold only a small majority. Just a few dissenters from the GOP can waylay the tax reform bill.
As reported at 10:49 am (JST) in Tokyo, the USD/JPY was trading at 112.452 Yen, down 0.59%. Staying with Asian currencies, the AUD/USD is up 0.18% and trading at $0.7601 while the NZD/USD is up 0.34% and trading at $0.6876.
Euro Higher Ahead of Draghi Speech
In the Eurozone, the EUR/USD is higher at $1.1814, a gain of 0.36%. If the Euro continues to gain ground, it is poised to record a 1% gain for the week. On Wednesday, the pair had hit a 1-month peak at $1.1862 after Germany’s statistical service reported strong economic growth in Q3. Mario Draghi, head of the European Central Bank, will be speaking later today in Frankfurt at the European Banking Conference; as usual, his comments could lead to some volatility for the common currency.