US dollar weakens sharply on concerns over the Federal Reserve's independence. Yen strengthens, gold rallies, and US stock futures decline. Our technical analysis covers key levels across major markets.
US dollar weakness coupled with sell-off in US stock indices futures
In today’s Asian session, 21 April, the US dollar tumbled in line with intraday weakness seen in the US stock indices futures after the markets reopened from the Good Friday holiday break.
The US Federal Reserve’s independence has come under renewed threat from US President Trump again, when over the weekend it was reported that the US White House Administration has continued to evaluate the available options to seek a removal of Fed Chair Powell before his tenure ends in 2026.
The Japanese yen strengthened to a level last seen in September last year, where the USD/JPY shed -1% coupled with the EUR/USD rallying by 1.1% to hold at a 3-year high. In addition, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 E-min futures declined by -0.9% each, respectively, at this time of this writing.
These observations suggest that market participants on the aggregate are questioning the US White House administration's current policies that may erode the confidence of holding US assets, and such a lack of confidence may amplify if the long-held independence of the Fed in terms of conducting monetary policy is removed.
All in all, the threat of removing Fed’s independence had a greater impact on the global markets that overshadowed a dovish ECB after the conclusion of its latest monetary policy decision to cut interest rates in the Eurozone last Thursday, 17 April.
The yellow metal has continued to thrive in such uncertain times, where Gold (XAU/USD) added on to its gains with a massive rally of 1.6% that saw another fresh all-time intraday high of $3,385 in today’s Asian session.
The latest intraday technical analysis on US Wall Street 30, US Nas 100, Hong Kong 33, Japan 225, Germany 30, EUR/USD, GBP/USD, AUD/USD, USD/JPY, Gold (XAU/USD), and West Texas Oil can be found in our YouTube video above.
