The greenback is the strongest currency on the major bloc so far
Meanwhile, the aussie is lagging behind after poor data and selling against both the dollar and the kiwi is compounding the drop today.
It's a quiet session all in all, with ranges still relatively tight on the rest of the currencies - except the aussie.
We're off to a new month, so month-end flows are out of the picture but not entirely of course. March marks the end of the fiscal year for Japan, and though we would have seen flows into the yen by now surely, that could be a factor again throughout the month so do be on the lookout for that.
EUR/USD is currently trading under 1.2200 again, and has broken below the lows the February lows; but not all hope is lost yet for bulls as the upward trendline stretching all the way back to April is still in tact. But be warned, there are political risks over the weekend for the euro. Italian elections and German coalition deal vote are both due on 4 March, so that could play a part in today and tomorrow's trading in case investors want to take money off the table.
The market doesn't look too overly concerned about either having a heavy negative impact, but politics are politics and it's not something that can be discounted all too much. They are called risks for a reason.
Looking ahead today, the market looks to be setting their sights on Powell's second round in his congressional testimony. This time he will testify before the senate banking committee. If anything, the market looks like it is hoping for more hawkish comments to come from Powell - so as to solidify the case that we are likely to see more than three rate hikes this year from the Fed. But as I said earlier, don't hope too much when we head into the FOMC meeting later this month, more often than not it ends up in disappointment.
