- Doug Ford slaps 25% tariff on US electricity exports
- Global equity indexes trying to recover yesterday’s losses.
- USD opens rallies across the board except vs EUR and GBP
USDCAD: open 1.4414 overnight range 1.4394-1.4448, close 1.4440, WTI 66.42, Gold 2911.44
The Canadian dollar is consolidating yesterday’s losses and is well above its weakest points as European equity markets and S&P 500 futures scratch out some gains. However, the gains may be short-lived after President Trump reacted to Ontario Premier Doug Ford slapping on a 25% electricity surcharge on US electricity purchases.
President Trump took to his TruthSocial account to moan, “Despite the fact that Canada is charging the USA from 250% to 390% tariffs on many of our farm products, Ontario just announced a 25% surcharge on ‘electricity,’ of all things, and you’re not even allowed to do that. Because our tariffs are reciprocal, we’ll just get it all back on April 2. Canada is a tariff abuser, and always has been, but the United States is not going to be subsidizing Canada any longer. We don’t need your cars, we don’t need your lumber, we don’t need your energy, and very soon, you will find that out. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
Even so, Canadian dollar moves are tracking broad US dollar sentiment.
Global equity markets are attempting to recover some of Monday’s losses, which saw the S&P 500 lose 3.70% yesterday. Asian indexes closed lower except for China's. Australia's ASX 200 declined 0.91%, while Japan’s Topix slid 1.11%. In Europe, stock markets are mostly higher, but the UK FTSE 100 is down 0.10%. Gold rallied to 2913.70.
EURUSD opened in New York at 1.0905 after trading in a range of 1.0831-1.0921 overnight. Reports today suggest the German Green Party will back the CDU defense spending proposal, which underpinned prices.
GBPUSD traded in a 1.2873-1.2942 band overnight, supported by broad US dollar weakness. UK traders largely brushed off the latest BRC Like-for-Like Retail Sales report, which showed a meager 0.9% increase in February, down sharply from January’s 2.5% gain.
USDJPY climbed from 146.54 in Asia to 147.72 in NY as traders unwind some safe-haven yen trades. Japan’s Q4 GDP expanded by 2.2% year-over-year, lower than the previous 2.8% reading, while quarter-over-quarter growth slowed to 0.6%.
AUDUSD traded negatively in a 0.6259-0.6298 range, with traders ignoring Consumer Confidence data, which showed a 4.0% rise in March, easily beating the previous 0.1% increase.
The only data of note today is the US JOLTS job openings data.
