A quiet beginning to the second, full trading week of the year, dominated by political and Geo-Political news. The Geo-Political crises have spread from Venezuela to Iran (both major oil producers and exporters), as domestic upheaval in Iran, has been supported by the Trump administration, with threats of kinetic intervention unsettling oil markets. On the domestic front, the US DoJ has launched a criminal investigation into the Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome Powell. This stems from his testimony before Congress and will unsettle the Fed Chairman, who may be forced to leave sooner, rather than later. The USD settled lower, with the EUR heading back towards 1.1700, while the GBP regained 1.3450.
Commodity currencies recovered lost ground with the softer reserve. The NZD surged through 0.5750, while the AUD charged back above 0.6700. Business Confidence numbers out, both sides of the Tasman today, may well give insights to perceptions of 2026
