Greenback regains poise as equity recovery....>

FOREX: Greenback regains poise as equity recovery gathers pace

-The USD index improved to touch a two-week high Thursday, helped higher by

better-than-expected Philly Fed data and weekly jobless claims. The gains were

most visible in USD/JPY, which made light work of the week's highs at Y109.83 to

narrow the gap on Y110.00. Better equity markets in the US also helped, with US

stock futures climbing well over 1% apiece. While there were few signs of

progress made between the US and China, there was a distinct absence of the

usual verbal barbs traded between the two camps, helping soothe sentiment

somewhat. Nonetheless, CNH weakened, with USD/CNH re-targeting the 6.92 mark. A

break above would be the first since December last year.

-GBP/USD was again the underperformer, showing below $1.28 for the first time

since February as PM May's Brexit deal looks perilously close to being taken off

life support. 

-Datapoints are few and far between Friday, with prelim University of Michigan

sentiment data for May, with speeches from RBA's Bullock, Fed's Williams and

Clarida also due.