The US dollar rose today against a basket of currencies above the 95 resistance level we mentioned yesterday to reach its highest level since July 13, 2017 at 95.53, in light of the gap between the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve and other central banks.
Meanwhile, the euro, which remained close to its lowest level since last November, remained at 1.1590, following the Italian government's appointment of two Eurosceptics to lead the key financial committees, raising concerns about anti-euro votes in the eurozone's third largest economy.
Trade tensions between China and the United States have played a role in the rise of the US dollar as markets expect this to have an impact on inflation and its rise in the United States, prompting the Fed to further raise for interest rates.
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) today kept its monetary policy unchanged as it kept interest rates in the negative range as expected, but the Swiss franc rose amidst a hawkish tone in the central bank statement.
In Britain, the Bank of England kept interest rates unchanged at 0.5%, but a third member of the MPC voted in favor of a rate hike and expectations now that the bank will raise interest rates at the August meeting after it was expected to be lifted in May if not mixed Economic data and a negative Carney speech that pushed the pound to its lowest level since the beginning of 2018.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is meeting tomorrow amid calls from top consumers to cool oil prices and support the global economy by producing more oil.
Russia has proposed raising production by 1.5 million barrels per day, while Saudi Arabia's oil minister said markets need at least one million barrels per day to avoid supply shortages in the second half of 2018.
Over a year and a half reducing oil production by 1.8 million barrels per day supported oil prices rising from the levels of $20 to reach the current levels.
