Saqib Iqbal Ahmed

The dollar edged down against the euro as upbeat German business morale data supported the common currency, while a modest improvement in investors’ appetite for riskier currencies weighed on the safe-haven dollar.

The yen jumped to a four-month high against the U.S. dollar, on pace for its biggest one-day rise in 24 years, on Tuesday after the Bank of Japan stunned markets with a surprise tweak to its bond yield control program.

The dollar edged lower against the euro on Tuesday after data showed euro zone business activity made a surprise return to modest growth in January, while U.S. business activity shrank for a seventh straight month.

The dollar slipped against the euro on Wednesday, but its losses were capped as traders were hesitant to make any big bets ahead of next week’s central bank meetings, including the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.

Volatility-linked funds estimated to be buying as much as $2 billion in U.S. equities daily are helping drive this year’s rebound in stocks and may ramp up purchases in coming weeks, though a hawkish Federal Reserve could spoil the party.

The dollar jumped to a four-week high against the euro on Monday, as last week’s blockbuster U.S. jobs report raised the likelihood of the U.S. Federal Reserve keeping on with its inflation-fighting interest rate hikes for longer.

U.S. President Joe Biden put taxes and corporate stock buybacks squarely in investors’ focus during Tuesday night’s State of the Union address as part of his push to restructure the world’s largest economy to be less favorable to the very wealthy.

An intraday dip in the S&P 500 Index on Thursday was spurred by large trades in short-dated derivatives that piled selling pressure on the market, according to Nomura strategist Charlie McElligott.

Wall Street’s most closely watched index of market anxiety jumped on Friday and options volume on the index soared to a near 4 year high as a growing crisis at SVB Financial weighed on stocks.

Dec 12, 2023 ... trillion in U.S. stock options are set to expire on Friday, 80% in S&P 500-linked contracts - the largest in at least 20 years.