Market Brief, North America

The dollar is climbing off a nearly one-month low and measures of risk sentiment are improving as traders jostle for position ahead of this morning’s Congressional testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Powell. Powell is widely expected to adopt a dovish stance, describing a more “balanced” outlook, with downside risks in the labour market beginning to outweigh inflation in driving monetary policy calculations. In prepared comments released ahead of his appearance before the Senate banking committee, the Fed chair is likely to acknowledge signs of slowing momentum in the central bank’s preferred economic indicators, with price growth cooling, consumer spending ebbing,...

Foreign exchange rates are settling into narrower trading ranges this morning as political risks ebb and the dollar’s retreat continues. The euro is modestly lower after an alliance of left-wing parties achieved a stunning upset in the French election, making a “hung parliament” – in which no single group can dominate the legislative agenda – the most probable outcome. Defying polls that showed Marine le Pen’s Rassemblement National on track toward gaining the biggest delegation in the National Assembly, Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s Socialist Nouveau Front Populaire is leading with 182 seats, with most constituencies counted, followed by President Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble...