Forex Today: USD rebounds in Asia, US Healthcare vote in focus

The greenback staged a solid comeback against most of its majors in the Asian session this Friday, after a renewed risk-on wave gripped the markets on the back of clarity brought on the timing of the US House vote on the Healthcare bill. Treasury yields   and Asian equities rallied amid risk-on market profile, while base metals remained under pressure, exerting downward pressure on the Antipodeans, with negative NZ trade data exacerbating the pain in the Kiwi.

Looking ahead, we have a busy session ahead, with a flurry of manufacturing and services PMI reports due on the cards from the Euro area economies, followed by Fed member Evans’ speech, Canadian inflation figures and the US durable goods data. Meanwhile, the US flash manufacturing and services PMI reports from Markit will be also eyed. However, the main risk event for today remains the US Healthcare vote by the House of Representatives.

Main topics in Asia

New Zealand Trade Balance (MoM) registered at $-18M, below expectations ($160M) in February

Fed's Kaplan: Fiscal reforms could provide upside to growth forecast

Robert Kaplan, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, is speaking at the Council of Global Economy Series in Chicago on "Tailwinds and Headwinds: The Economic Outlook and Monetary Policy".

BOE’s Vlieghe, a dovish member, plays down rate hike talk

A report in the UK Times says BOE’s dovish member Vlieghe does not believe rates would automatically have to rise in response to higher inflation.

US healthcare plan to get house floor vote Friday between 2-4 PM EDT

Livesquawk reports headlines posted by CNBC, noting that the Republicanhealthcare plan to get house floor vote Friday between 2 P.M. EDT and 4 P.M. EDT, i.e., 1800-2000GMT.

N. Korea nuclear test could come as early as the end of the month - Yonhap

More headlines crossing the wires on North Korea preparing for another Nuclear test, courtesy Yonhap (South Korean media).

Key focus for the day ahead                                                     

Eurozone: March flash PMIs in focus – TDS

In view of the analysts at TDS, Eurozone’s March flash PMIs data will be the key economic releases for the day which will garner maximum investors’ attention.

Preview of key US durable goods data coming up - Nomura

Analysts at Nomura offered a preview of the next key US data for this week.

Markets are on hold ahead of US healthcare voting - ANZ

Sharon Zollner, Senior Economist at ANZ, explains that the global financial markets seems to be on hold as US healthcare negotiations are ongoing, with voting delayed till 2-4pm EDT on Friday.

GBP: Fade the rally – Standard Chartered

Analysts at Standard Chartered explains that the GBP-USD rally over the past week does not diminish their bearishness as they think that higher than expected UK CPI inflation and an incrementally less dovish Bank of England (BoE) in the context of stretched short GBP positioning have driven the move.