US Dollar firms in a rebound from Thursday’s trade

We might be seeing a US dollar catch-up trade in Asia.

The dollar struggled in Thursday’s US session even as stocks rallied and Treasury yields fell. It was a breakdown of the recent Buy America/Sell America correlation but today in Asia we’re seeing signs that it’s being re-asserted, albeit delayed.

The dollar is 30-45 pips stronger today against the Euro, yen, pound and Swiss franc and at the best levels in Asia so far. The gains in USD/JPY come despite a hotter Tokyo CPI report.

One of the themes going into the weekend is likely to be optimism about a US trade deal announcement: Perhaps with India or more broadly. That should be a tailwind for the ‘Buy America’ trade, though stocks have been rallying on that for three days already.

There could also be some help from the stock market with S&P 500 futures up 0.4%, led by a 4.8% rise in shares of Alphabet following earnings.

This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.