US Dollar Rises as Trump Avoids Harshest Measures on China

The US dollar today rallied higher against its main trading partners as news emerged that President Donald Trump‘s administration would not be pursuing the harshest measures against China. Several positive releases from the US docket such as the advance goods trade balance also served to strengthen the greenback in the early American session.
The US dollar today gained against its main trading peers as tracked by the US Dollar Index, which hit a high of 95.03 from a low of 94.53.
The greenback’s rally began earlier today as senior officials in Trump’s administration stated that he would not invoke the national emergency law on China. Comments by US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also indicated that Trump would make changes to CFIUS in order to protect American technology. Trump also expects Congress to pass new CFIUS legislation soon, or he would use an executive order to apply the same provisions. The US will also modify its export controls to strengthen them if a review by the Commerce Department finds it necessary.
Releases from the US docket such as the positive advance goods trade deficit released by the Census Bureau also boosted the greenback. The advance goods trade deficit came in at $64.8 billion versus the expected $69.0 billion, while the durable goods orders contracted by 0.6% instead of the expected 1.0% decline.
The greenback’s short-term performance is likely to be affected by geopolitical events as well as the release of the US pending homes sales data scheduled for later today.
The GBP/USD currency pair was trading at 1.3164 as at 13:25 GMT having dropped from an initial high of 1.3235. The EUR/USD currency pair was trading at 1.1608 having declined from a high of 1.1671.

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