Currency traders on the frontlines

Tumultuous week: Given that the Fed is already close to the end of its hiking cycle, the markets won’t melt down if Powell leaves office – they already did, according to an economist. — Reuters

NEW YORK: The final week of 2018 could prove tumultuous for investors as holiday-thinned trading combines with a growing array of pressures on markets.

Traders in the US$5.1 trillion-a-day currency market were among the first to respond to a partial US government shutdown and a report that President Donald Trump has discussed firing Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell.