The US Democratic Party has launched a case for the impeachment of President Trump. The inquiry will look into allegations that Trump pressured the Ukrainian president to investigate his political rival, Joe Biden. Trump has admitted to discussing Biden with the Ukrainian president, but denies putting pressure on him to launch an investigation. The dollar has, so far, remained mostly unaffected by the news, as it is unclear whether the inquiry will come to anything.
Rhetoric surrounding the US-China trade war has taken a stern turn, with President Trump stating that he will not accept a “bad deal.” He went on to say, “Not only has China declined to adopt promised reforms, it has embraced an economic model dependent on massive market barriers, heavy state subsidies, currency manipulation, product dumping, forced technology transfers and the theft of intellectual property and also trade secrets on a grand scale.”
The dollar weakened yesterday as consumer confidence figures came in lower than anticipated. The Conference Board reported that its index of consumer attitudes came in at 125.1, falling at the greatest rate in nine months in September. It is thought that consumers have been deterred by trade tensions and tariffs.
The Richmond Manufacturing Index was also released, which dropped to -9 in September following a reading of 1 in the previous month.
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