Pound Soars on Hopes of a Brexit Delay, May's Speech in Focus

GBP

The British pound advanced against other major currencies amid rising hopes that Theresa May will delay the Brexit deadline. Theresa May will hold a press conference today to talk about the recent Brexit developments. On the other hand, the Bank of England governor and several monetary policy committee members will be testifying about the inflation and economic outlook. The GBPUSD rose to a three-week high of $1.3162, and the GBPJPY climbed to a three-month high of 145.97.

USD

The dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of major currencies settled lower at 96.41. The Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will testify to Congress about the monetary policy and economic outlook. He is likely to restate that the Fed will be cautious and await further economic data before hiking interest rates further. The US 10-year yields remain caught in a tight range between 2.62% and 2.70%, and the USDJPY is trading near 110.74.

Metals

Metals prices were almost unchanged as investors await fresh hints on the Federal Reserve monetary policy from Powell's testimony. The gold ounce is hovering near $1325, the silver ounce is holding near $15.85, and Palladium dropped from a record high of $1560 to a low of $1537.

Oil

Oil prices plunged following a tweet from the United States President Donald Trump. He tweeted that oil prices are getting too high and OPEC should interfere as the world cannot take a price hike. The West Texas Intermediate crude futures dropped to a ten-day low of $55.00, and the Brent futures declined to a low of $64.30. The American Petroleum Institute will report the weekly crude oil stock later today. 

Major Economic Events

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