{"id":436705,"date":"2026-08-21T19:18:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T12:18:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/market-news\/kickstart-the-north-american-session-the-usd-is-lower-vs-the-3-major-currency-pairs-436705\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T19:18:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T12:18:29","slug":"kickstart-the-north-american-session-the-usd-is-lower-vs-the-3-major-currency-pairs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/market-news\/kickstart-the-north-american-session-the-usd-is-lower-vs-the-3-major-currency-pairs-436705\/","title":{"rendered":"Kickstart the North American session:  The USD is lower vs the 3 major currency pairs."},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\">The U.S. dollar is starting the day on the defensive, trading lower against all of the major currencies. The largest declines are against the AUD and NZD, which are higher by 0.77% and 0.67%, respectively. Against the EUR, JPY and GBP, the dollar is lower by around 0.20% to 0.30% to kickstart the trading day.<\/p>\n<p>In today\u2019s Kickstart video, I take a look at the key technical levels driving the major currency pairs and outline the bias, risk and targets \u2014 three things every trader should be aware of as the new trading day gets underway.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer\">U.S. Treasury yields are mixed and little changed to start the day, with rates generally sitting near the middle of this week\u2019s volatile trading ranges.<\/p>\n<p>The volatility this week has been particularly pronounced at the long end of the curve. The 30-year yield surged to 5.337% on Tuesday, its highest level since June 2007, before reversing sharply after action from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The Treasury announced it would at least double the size of its longer-dated bond buybacks from $2 billion to $4 billion per operation, providing additional liquidity support to the long end of the Treasury market. <\/p>\n<p>The 30-year yield subsequently fell to a low of 5.178% yesterday before moving back higher. At 5.24% this morning, the yield is now near the middle of this week\u2019s range.<\/p>\n<p>The 10-year yield has seen similar volatility, trading from a high of 4.759% to a low of 4.633% this week. It is currently at 4.692%, also near the middle of its weekly range.<\/p>\n<p class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer\">At the shorter end of the curve, the 2-year yield has been much more contained, trading between 4.176% and 4.202% this week. The current yield is at 4.185%, keeping it within that relatively narrow range.<\/p>\n<p>The 2-year remains particularly sensitive to expectations for Fed policy. Markets are currently pricing in roughly a one-in-three chance of a 25-basis-point rate hike at the September meeting, with the probability around 34%. That keeps the September decision very much in play, particularly after the minutes from the July meeting showed a more hawkish tilt among policymakers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer\">U.S. stocks are on pace for a solid rebound at the open following yesterday\u2019s sharp declines. The major indices came under broad selling pressure Thursday as rising Treasury yields, higher oil prices and weakness in Walmart weighed on investor sentiment. The Dow fell 703.84 points, or 1.3%, the S&amp;P 500 declined 66.82 points, or 0.9%, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 263.92 points, or 1.0%. <\/p>\n<p>Futures are pointing higher this morning:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Dow Jones: +293 points\n<\/li>\n<li>S&amp;P 500: +32 points\n<\/li>\n<li>Nasdaq 100: +223 points\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The gains point to some dip buying after yesterday\u2019s broad-based selloff, with the Nasdaq 100 leading the rebound.<\/p>\n<p class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer\">Crude oil is trading marginally higher at $86.84, despite comments from Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian suggesting a desire to bring the war to an end. Pezeshkian said \u201cthe war must end at some point,\u201d adding that it would be better to end it now while Iran is in what he described as a position of power and dignity.<\/p>\n<p>The comments point toward a preference for a negotiated end to the conflict, but geopolitical risks remain elevated, keeping the oil market sensitive to developments involving Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n<p class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer\">Precious metals are sharply higher to start the day. Gold is up $78.41, or 1.74%, at $4,596.86, while silver is up 2.53% at $69.78. The weaker U.S. dollar is providing support to both metals.<\/p>\n<p>Bitcoin is also surging, trading up 5.06% at $76,698, extending its strong rebound and adding to the broader move into alternative assets as the dollar weakens.<\/p>\n<p class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer\">The economic calendar has several releases that could generate some volatility later today.<\/p>\n<p>In Canada, the focus will be on June retail sales. Headline retail sales are expected to rise 0.4%, slowing from 1.0% previously, while core retail sales are expected to increase 0.4%, down from 1.2%.<\/p>\n<p>In the U.S., attention will turn to the August flash PMI data. Manufacturing PMI is expected at 53.9, unchanged from the prior month, while services PMI is expected to ease to 54.0 from 54.6. Both readings would nevertheless remain comfortably above the 50 level separating expansion from contraction.<\/p>\n<p>In Europe, consumer confidence is expected to remain unchanged at -16.3. Earlier flash PMI data showed eurozone business activity continuing to expand in August, led by improving manufacturing activity. <\/p>\n<p>                            This article was written by Greg Michalowski at investinglive.com.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. dollar is starting the day on the defensive, trading lower against all of the major currencies. The largest declines are against the AUD and NZD, which are higher by 0.77%&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":216,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-436705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/216"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436705\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}