GBP/USD: Federal Reserve & China Trade Talks In Focus

The Hungarian Forint has rallied versus the weaker dollar as risk sentiment improves. The Us dollar Hungarian Forint exchange rate dived to a low of 294.30 overnight. The pair closed 0.7% lower near the session low at 294.61. The pair is consolidating those losses in early trade on Friday.

It may be December, but things are certainly not quietening down in the FX space. The Hungarian Forint rallied on Thursday following an unexpectedly solid victory for the Conservatives in the UK general election.

Boris Johnson and the Conservatives secured a huge majority with 263 seats, compared to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s 203 seats (with 2 seats still undeclared). For Brexit this means that the UK will almost certainly leave the EU with a deal in January. Whilst the UK and the pound are the principal winners, this is also good news for European economies for trade and owing to reduced uncertainties. Furthermore, risk sentiment has received a boost which is supportive of central and eastern European currencies, such as the Hungarian Forint.

There is no high impacting data from Hungary today. Investors will continue to digest political developments in the UK.

US China Trade Deal Agreed In Principal

The dollar is sharply on the back foot. The huge rally in sterling and to a lesser extent the euro has dragged the US dollar significantly lower across the board. Furthermore, the US dollar is also trading lower as broad risk sentiment improves.

Brexit has weighed on risk sentiment but so has US — China trade. In the previous session the US and China agreed a trade deal in principal. Whilst the deal is yet to be signed by President Trump, the US leader tweeted earlier in the session that the two sides were very close to a big deal.

The phase one agreement is expected to reduce tariffs that have already been applied and delay the tariffs which are due to take effect this Sunday, 15th December. The Wall Street journal reported that the US was planning to slash tariffs on $360 billion worth of Chinese imports by 50%.


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