Forex Today: US Dollar runs higher, aims to extend gains

What you need to take care of on  Tuesday, April 2:

The US Dollar stands as the overall winner at the end of Monday, with some major markets remaining closed amid Easter Monday. The focus was on growth-related figures as the day started with China reporting an upbeat manufacturing output in March. The news, however, fell short of maintaining investors optimism.

 Financial markets priced in Friday's news that US inflation, as measured by the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index, held at 2.8% YoY in February. Following the report, Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank is in no rush to hike rates amid still high inflation and a resilient economy.

Over the weekend, European Central Bank (ECB) officials delivered hawkish comments that also failed to boost the mood. Austrian Central Bank Governor Robert Holzmann said on Sunday that the ECB could cut interest rates before the US Fed. When the ECB would pull the trigger “will depend largely on what wage and price developments look like by June,” Holzmann added. Also, Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras put on the table several rate cuts for this year, saying it is “possible” to trim 25 basis points (bps) four times this year.

The US Dollar gathered momentum following the release of a much-better-than-anticipated United States (US) ISM Manufacturing PMI. The report showed that economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in March after contracting for 16 consecutive months, with the index jumping to 50.3 from 47.8 in February. At the same time, S&P Global also released the final estimate of its Manufacturing PMI, which was confirmed at 51.9,  below the 52.5 expected but still with expansionary levels.  

EUR/USD settled around 1.0740, not far from the February low at 1.0694. GBP/USD trades around 1.2545, while USD/CHF is comfortable above 0.9040. Commodity-linked currencies fell alongside US indexes, with AUD/USD trading around 0.6480 and USD/CAD up to 1.3580. Finally, the USD/JPY stands at 151.60.

Gold soared to $2,265 a troy ounce, a record high, before pulling back towards $2,240 mid-US afternoon.