As Liberation Day approaches tomorrow, The Washington Post reports that the White House is floating 20% tariffs in response to similar measures from U.S. trading partners. President Trump is expected to address the matter during a 3 PM ET event in the Rose Garden. While the president is known for shifting positions abruptly, this move leans on the punitive side. Whether he will scale back remains uncertain—but market volatility is likely to persist as investors react to each new signal.

In FX markets, the three major pairs are mixed: the dollar is stronger against the EUR and GBP, but weaker versus the JPY.

Technicals may have also played a role in the price action. The video above outlines the technicals that are driving those three major currency pairs.

Another influence to the price action is sharply lower yields. To start the US session, yields are sharply lower with declines of -5.6 basis points to -8.9 basis points across the curve. A snapshot currently shows:

  • 2-year yield 3.856%, -5.6 basis points
  • 5-year yield 3.902%, -7.8 point basis points
  • 10 year yield 4.157%, -8.9 basis points
  • 30 year yield 4.525%, minus a .9 basis points

Looking at the premarket trading in the major US indices, they are down after a mixed close yesterday to end the month. The futures are currently implying:

  • Dow industrial average -234 points
  • S&P index -22.85 points
  • NASDAQ index -71.2 points

Yesterday the major indices moved sharply to the downside in the first few hours of trading before rallying. The S&P and Dow industrial average closed higher on the day, while the NASDAQ index fell modestly for the fourth consecutive day. For the month, the NASDAQ index had its worst trading month (-8.21%) since December 2022. The S&P also had its worst trading month since that month (-5.75%.

Looking at other markets today:

  • Crude oil is trading down $0.11 and $71.37
  • Gold is trading higher by $8.11 or 0.26% at $3131.40. It's a another record
  • Bitcoin is also higher by around $1500 and $84,069
Source: Forex Live