The USD led the way on Wednesday. CAD.........>

FOREX: The USD led the way on Wednesday. CAD rallied on the initial reaction to

the BOC's exp. 25bp hike to 1.5%. Market talk had widely expected a dovish hike,

but the BOC surprised highlighting that higher interest rates will be warranted

to keep inflation near target. The bank did however remain cautious re: trade.

As CAD longs unwound & the USD firmed across the board, USD/CAD squeezed to

C$1.3219.

- EUR/USD spiked to highs of $1.1758 on reaction to an ECB source story that

said ECB policymakers are split on the meaning of `through summer' & on the

timing of the first rate hike. However, as the stronger USD theme prevailed, the

rate reversed to lows of $1.1666. EUR/JPY held above the 100-DMA.

- Trade headlines dominated USD/JPY, the WSJ reported that China is considering

other ways to retaliate to U.S. tariffs which briefly took the pair under

Y111.00. But as Tsy yields firmed the pair broke the key Y111.45/50 area,

accelerating to 6-month highs of Y112.17. Commodity tied FX struggled with AUD &

NZD registering losses of over 1% vs. USD.

- U.S. CPI, Fed's Harker & Kashkari dominate on Thursday.