Trump soothes agitated markets,...............>

FOREX: Trump soothes agitated markets, underpinning risk rally

- At a much-awaited press conference in the White House, the US President stated

that "Iran appear to be standing down" in a speech that suggested his preferred

tool going forward would be economic sanctions and starving Tehran of dollars,

rather than surgical missile strikes. Markets welcomed the news, which bid

equities up once again to alltime highs, crushing those who had adopted oil or

gold longs on the back of yesterday's Iranian strikes in the process.

- USD/JPY rallied to fresh 2020 highs, hitting Y109.11 to mark a 150 pip trip

from the overnight lows. This sets up JPY bulls well for an attempt on the key

resistance at December's highs of Y109.73. The moves kept JPY at the bottom of

the G10 pile and helped drag EUR/CHF off multi-year lows printed earlier in the

session at 1.0783, which had raised some questions about just when the SNB would

step in to intervene.

- German trade balance and industrial production data is due Thursday, US weekly

jobless claims. Speeches from BoE governor Carney, BoC's Poloz and a number of

members of the ECB and Fed should keep markets busy Thursday.