JPMorgan Lifts Gold Price Forecast to $6,300 by End-2026 on Strong Central Bank and Investor Demand 
Japan Declines Comment on BOJ’s Absence From Global Support Statement for Fed Chair Powell. Source: Asturio Cantabrio, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 
Jerome Powell Attends Supreme Court Hearing on Trump Effort to Fire Fed Governor, Calling It Historic 
New York Fed President John Williams Signals Rate Hold as Economy Seen Strong in 2026 
Why Trump’s new pick for Fed chair hit gold and silver markets – for good reasons 
ECB Signals Steady Interest Rates as Fed Risks Loom Over Outlook 
MAS Holds Monetary Policy Steady as Strong Growth Raises Inflation Risks 
China Holds Loan Prime Rates Steady in January as Market Expectations Align 
We stay short GBPUSD because interest rate based valuations are even more stretched than USDCAD (we expect BoE hawks to be caged by an economy that is finally starting to cool), but once again reduce the directionality to the USD by opening a complimentary long position in EURGBP through options given the depressed level of volatility (2m EURGBP vols are 0.9 pts below their 6m average despite the French premium).
We remain short EUR on a handful of European crosses, but only where we believe local currency factors are bullish and justify currency appreciation even in the absence of a French political shock, namely CHF, SEK and CZK.
In the bigger picture, we are inclined to position for macroeconomic normalization in the euro, and the portfolio remains implicitly positioned along these lines through long positions in European currencies versus the dollar bloc (USDCHF and NZDSEK).
The addition of EURGBP to the portfolio augments the overall beta to a euro recovery (we believe that EURGBP would re-price much more on a Macron victory than EURCHF would, for instance).
Finally, we unwind a short volatility position in EURCHF given the substantial cooling of tail risk in the last few weeks both in ATMs and risk reversals.
