It has been an overnight session of two halves. A quiet range trading initial half before Fed Chair Powell’s interview followed by some fireworks once he began speaking. At the start of the interview, Powell sounded dovish triggering a jump in equities and a decline in the USD and UST yields. However, Powell’s final remarks were more hawkish, noting that if strong labour data persists, the peak rate in the current tightening cycle may be higher. After an up and down trading pattern, US equities are heading into the close with modest gains led by tech stocks, the UST curve has a steeping bias, and the USD is a tad ... (full story)