Mkt wrap: US dollar outperforms all major currencies - Westpac

Analysts at Westpac offered a breakdown of recent sessions, noting that all major currencies underperformed the USD. 

Key Quotes:

"EUR/USD fell steadily from the Sydney afternoon to late NY, from near 1.24 to 1.2320/30, with perhaps some weight from a slightly disappointing Feb ZEW German investor sentiment survey.

GBP recovered from early London weakness, rising from 1.3932 to 1.4024 after reports Europe may propose friendlier Brexit terms.

USD/JPY rose 0.6% over the day to 107.25/30, USD/CAD also up 0.6% to 1.2640.

AUD/USD was choppy but ultimately succumbed to a stronger US dollar, slipping about 30 pips on the day to 0.7885. NZD was also slightly weaker at 0.7345.

AUD/NZD was lively at times but overall flat on the day, around 1.0740.

The GDT dairy auction resulted in prices overall down 0.5%, with whole milk powder up 0.6% (close to futures predictions).

US 10yr treasury yields rose from Friday’s closing level of 2.88% to 2.93% and then consolidated. The 2yr yield jumped from 2.19% to 2.24% - the highest level since Sep 2008 – before consolidating. Fed fund futures yields continued to price a total of four hikes by end-2019."