The Canadian dollar is steady after a quiet overnight session. It opened in Toronto where it closed on Friday after being ignored in Asia and Europe.
U.K. markets were closed for the Spring Bank holiday, and U.S. markets are closed for Memorial Day and traders elsewhere used those absences as an excuse to stay sidelined. President Trump was in Japan on the weekend and talking trade. He said that "Trade-wise, I think we’ll be announcing some things, probably in August that will be very good for both countries."
He also kept the verbal pressure upon China. He opined "They probably wish they made the deal that they had on the table before they tried to renegotiate it. They would like to make a deal. We’re not ready to make a deal." He then threatened tariffs on Chinese goods "could go up very substantially, very soon."
China responded saying tariffs would hurt America equally. The Chinese official news agency wrote, "The United States is attempting to squeeze an unequal trade deal out of China, using measures such as tariff hikes and targeting its tech companies."
The trade news was largely ignored as it was more of the "same old, same old."
Asia traders reacted to the European Parliament election results. The reactions were swift, sharp and short-lived. EUR/USD and GBP/USD surged when the votes were tabulated but gave back all their gains. Nationalist and far-right parties made gains but not nearly enough to upset the balance of power in the new Parliament. There are 751 seats in the E.U.
Rahim Madhavji is the President of KnightsbridgeFX.com, a Canadian currency exchange that provides better rates than the banks to Canadians
