Dollar Weaker; Euro Upside Intact

The U.S. dollar was weaker across the board Thursday vs. the majors as sentiment appears to be improving after a consolidative day Wednesday. Risk on foreign exchange trading appears to be back on track after taking a brief breather.

The euro so far has been unable to break the May 10 high around 1.31 against the dollar, but its upside move remains intact. Emerging markets forex was mostly stronger, with HUF the best of the lot as sentiment improves and debt sale went fine. Biggest gainers on the day so far vs. the dollar are CHF, AUD, NOK, HUF, and SEK, while the only loser vs. the dollar so far Thursday is KRW.

Emerging market sentiment will likely be boosted by the International Monetary Fund approving a new $15.2 billion program for Ukraine. Also, the Turkish central bank started the normalization process for policy by raising the foreign currency reserve requirement for commercial banks by 50 basis points to 10%. Brazil's central bank minutes due out Thursday should help shine a light on the future interest rate outlook.

Asian markets were modestly higher Thursday, with MSCI Asia Pacific up 0.4% Thursday. Indonesia and China markets outperformed, while Japan, Korea, and Australia markets underperformed and were down on the day. European markets were up Thursday, with Euro Stoxx 50 rising 0.6%.

The U.S. bond market was mixed. Global risk sentiment has come back but is being offset by a weak U.S. growth outlook. Japan's bond market was higher as 10-year yields were down 1 basis point Thursday, while European bond markets were mostly higher.

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