The USD rose against all other G-10 currencies on Friday, with traders becoming increasingly optimistic about signs of a possible easing in trade frictions. The yen had the largest decline.
The Bloomberg USD rose 0.4% at one point; this week’s increase was 0.1%, following three weeks of consecutive declines.
In an interview with Time magazine published on Friday, USA President Donald Trump stated that a trade agreement with partners requesting tariff reductions is expected to be reached in the "next three to four weeks."
Two traders based in Europe stated that end-of-month fund flows also aided the rebound of the USD.
The USD Index is heading toward its worst performance in the first hundred days of a new USA president since data from the Nixon era.
The USD/JPY rose 0.7% to 143.63.
Japan's Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato stated that the discussion with USA Treasury Secretary Scott Basset on Thursday did not mention specific Forex Exchange Rates targets. He strongly urged the USA to reconsider its tariff measures.
USD/CAD remains stable around 1.3860 ahead of next week's Canadian federal election. "Once the election is over, the Trump administration may adopt a hawkish stance in the preliminary (re)negotiations," wrote Citibank. They suggested going long on 2-period Call Options for USD/CAD with a strike price of 1.40.
EUR/USD fell by 0.2% to 1.1363.
Robert Holzmann, a member of the European Central Bank's Governing Council, stated that the impact of US tariffs may suppress consumer prices in the Eurozone instead of causing a new wave of inflation. Following his speech, traders this year anticipated a 100% probability of a 25 basis point rate cut in June.
USD/CHF rose by 0.1% to 0.8277.
GBP/USD fell by 0.2% to 1.3322.
