Author: FX

The USD/JPY pair gathers strength to around 159.15 during the Asian trading hours on Friday. Ongoing concerns regarding the Strait of Hormuz and the Middle East continue to lift the US Dollar (USD) against the Japanese Yen (JPY). Traders will keep an eye on the US March Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation report, which is due later on Friday. US President Donald Trump said late Tuesday that he had agreed “to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks” on the condition that Iran re-opens the Strait of Hormuz. Earlier Friday, Trump accused Iran of doing a “very…

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The 123 pattern isn’t some secret formula it’s a basic price structure that shows up repeatedly across all markets. Point 1 marks the extreme of the current move, whether that’s a swing high in an uptrend or a swing low in a downtrend. Point 2 forms when price pulls back from that extreme. Point 3 happens when price tries to resume the original direction but fails to make a new extreme. That failure at point 3 is where things get interesting. When price breaks back below point 2 in a downtrend (or above point 2 in an uptrend), the pattern…

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Suspiciously timed trades and prediction market gains during the Iran conflict have sparked ethics concerns, prompting a White House warning and calls for tighter regulation.The Wall Street Journal (gated) carries the report. Summary:White House warned staff against betting on markets amid Iran war developments Warning followed suspiciously timed surge in oil futures trading before policy shift Prediction markets also saw large profits from well-timed ceasefire bets No evidence of insider trading, but optics and ethics concerns are rising Critics argue markets risk turning war into a “casino” for privileged information Lawmakers push for tighter regulation or outright bans on war-related…

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The EUR/USD pair edges higher by some 0.33% on Thursday as risk appetite improves, with Israel and Lebanon seeming ready to begin peace talks, even though hostilities continued. This weighed on the US Dollar (USD), which is on the back foot, down 0.18% according to the US Dollar Index (DXY). At the time of writing, the pair trades near the 1.1700 milestone, up 0.32%, after hitting a five-week high of 1.1723 earlier in the day.Euro gains as peace talk hopes pressure Dollar before US CPI data.The Middle East conflict grabbed the headlines as economic data took a back seat, awaiting…

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The EURUSD is pushing to new session highs, with the move supported by softer oil prices and a modest easing in geopolitical tensions. Headlines out of the Middle East have helped sentiment, after Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu signaled a shift toward diplomacy—directing his cabinet to focus on Hezbollah disarmament and potential normalization talks with Lebanon. This follows a conversation with Donald Trump, who urged restraint in military activity as cease-fire and broader negotiations with Iran continue.From a technical perspective, the pair has reclaimed a key cluster of levels. Price is now back above the 50% midpoint of the move down from…

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Commerzbank economists Bernd Weidensteiner and Christoph Balz highlight that recent US labor market indicators, especially nonfarm payrolls and hours worked, have become unusually volatile and subject to larger revisions. They argue this complicates Federal Reserve assessment of labor conditions and monetary policy timing, suggesting greater reliance on the unemployment rate and broader datasets to identify underlying trends.Volatility and revisions cloud US jobs picture”US jobs data has been unusually volatile for several months now, and figures are often revised significantly. This makes it harder to interpret new data, which also poses challenges for the Fed.””To make matters worse, the job data…

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