The euro fell below 1.08 against the U.S. dollar for the first time since March 1, falling 0.26% on the day.

The firm trading volume of COMEX gold futures shows that in the past hour, long and short orders were balanced within the trading range. For details, please refer to "Database - COMEX Gold Futures Firm Trading Volume".

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will hold a press conference in five minutes.

At midday closing, the main domestic futures contracts were mixed. Coking coal, caustic soda, and glass fell by more than 2%, while coke, rapeseed meal, methanol, soybean oil, pigs, rapeseed oil, hot rolls, palm oil, and soda ash fell by more than 1%; in terms of gains, fiberboard hit the daily limit, rising by 4.99%, and Shanghai lead rose by More than 1%, lithium carbonate, stainless steel (SS), corn, short fiber rose nearly 1%.

1. Brazil’s central bank’s U.S. dollar exposure dropped to its lowest level in nine years in 2023. 2. Bank of England member Haskell: The Bank of England is still “a long way off” from cutting interest rates. 3. The Swedish central bank kept interest rates unchanged at 4.00% and said it may cut interest rates in May or June if the inflation outlook remains favorable. 4. Yoshiko Shimizu, Executive Director of the Bank of Japan: Policy will remain loose "for a period of time"; it plans to continue to purchase Japanese government bonds of the same size for a period of time. 5. Bank of Japan meeting minutes: A member said that achieving the inflation target is within sight. One member said a cautious policy stance needed to be emphasized. One member said there was no need to raise interest rates quickly. 6. Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki: (When asked whether the Ministry of Finance will conduct implicit foreign exchange intervention) I will not disclose any information. Deputy Finance Minister Masato Kanda: Bank of Japan officials said that if foreign exchange market fluctuations affect the economy and price trends, the central bank will respond through monetary policy. 7. European Central Bank Executive Member Cipollone: Inflation uncertainty has decreased and there is increasing confidence that the target will be achieved by mid-2025. We are one step closer to lifting restrictive policies. 8. Waller, the Fed’s policy vane: It will take several months of better inflation data before an interest rate cut can be made. The stickiness of inflation indicates that there is no need to rush to cut interest rates. The current interest rate may be maintained for longer than expected, and the number of interest rate cuts may be reduced this year.