MNI: ### USD continues to slide vs. January's appr...>

MNI: ### USD continues to slide vs. January's appr 12-year highs for the

greenback while the Euro revisits levels not seen since early 2015 as the "Fed

close to the beginning of the end" (tighter policy) and the "ECB just now at the

end of the beginning" (easy policy) one market pundit quipped. Several factors

are helping suppress a rebound in USD include better value for foreign accts

buying equities, commodities (including energy) as well as high-grade corporate

bonds (as long as rates don't rise sharply from current levels. Societe

Generale's chief global FX strategist said, "as long as we remain in the current

gridlock, the Euro will rise until it's overshot. For now, we have range-bound

US yields, decent but not spectacular US data, political uncertainty and a debt

ceiling issue that will need resolving. Hopes of significant tax reform are

fading again, while fears of a faster pace of Fed rate hiking are kept at bay."

On the other hand, "If we get a major escalation in the Korean peninsula, say,

or a sharp slowdown in US growth, or even passage of a healthcare reform package

that opens up the route to a range-break in treasuries, everything changes,"

Juckes concluded.