Forex
Dollar set for hefty monthly gain ahead of Fed decision
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© Reuters.
Investing.com – The U.S. dollar edged higher in early European trade Wednesday, on course for its biggest monthly gain since September, while the euro retreated after weak inflation data.
At 04:45 ET (09:45 GMT), the Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, traded 0.1% higher at 103.352, on track to register gains of over 2% this month.
Dollar on course for strong monthly gains
The dollar has been in demand this month as traders dialled back expectations on when the will start cutting interest rates given strong U.S. economic data and pushback from central bankers.
The greenback has also been helped by the escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, which have weighed on risk sentiment amid fears of a wider regional conflict.
The U.S. central bank is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged, and thus the focus is likely to be on Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s post meeting press conference to see if he flags cuts are coming.
“Given U.S. data releases – most recently the December JOLTS data showing job openings expanding – there seems little reason for tonight’s FOMC communication to push the market to price any more than the current 130bp of rate cuts for this year,” said analysts at ING, in a note. “This should be a neutral/positive development for the dollar.”
There is more labor data to study Wednesday, in the form of the for January, ahead of Thursday’s weekly and then Friday’s widely-watched monthly report.
Euro retreats on soft inflation data
In Europe, traded 0.1% lower at 1.0829, after regional German and French consumer prices data pointed to falling inflation, increasing the possibility of the cutting interest rates earlier than expected.
fell 0.2% on the month in January, resulting in the annual rate falling to 3.1% from 3.7% in December.
The release is due later in the session, but the individual states have started reporting their figures. They have all indicated sharp falls in the annual figures, suggesting inflation is on the retreat in the eurozone’s dominant economy.
At the same time, slumped 1.6% on the month in December as consumers remained under pressure.
These figures “keep the door open for an April ECB rate cut,” ING added. “That is not our house view, but does mean that EUR/USD should end the week heading into Friday’s U.S. jobs data on the soft side.”
traded 0.1% lower at 1.2683 ahead of the ‘s policy meeting on Thursday.
British house prices rose this month more than expected, with Nationwide Building Society stating house prices in January increased by 0.7% from the month before after being flat in December.
Yen set to hefty monthly drop
In Asia, fell 0.1% to 147.43, with the yen gaining slightly but set to drop almost 5% this month, heading for its largest monthly drop since June 2022 as the maintained its ultra-easy monetary policy.
edged higher to 7.1759, with the yuan set to drop around 1% for the month, with China’s in January contracting for a fourth straight month.
Forex
Major Russian lenders say yuan coffers empty, urge central bank action
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By Elena Fabrichnaya
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Major Russian banks have called on the central bank to take action to counter a yuan liquidity deficit, which has led to the rouble tumbling to its lowest level since April against the Chinese currency and driven yuan swap rates into triple digits.
The rouble fell by almost 5% against the yuan on Sept. 4 on the Moscow Stock Exchange (MOEX) after the finance ministry’s plans for forex interventions implied that the central bank’s daily yuan sales would plunge in the coming month to the equivalent of $200 million.
The central bank had been selling $7.3 billion worth of yuan per day during the past month. The plunge coincided with oil giant Rosneft’s 15 billion yuan bond placement, which also sapped liquidity from the market.
“We cannot lend in yuan because we have nothing to cover our foreign currency positions with,” said Sberbank CEO German Gref, stressing that the central bank needed to participate more actively in the market.
The yuan has become the most traded foreign currency on MOEX after Western sanctions halted exchange trade in dollars and euros, with many banks developing yuan-denominated products for their clients.
Yuan liquidity is mainly provided by the central bank through daily sales and one-day yuan swaps, as well as through currency sales by exporting companies.
Chinese banks in Russia, meanwhile, are avoiding currency trading for fear of secondary Western sanctions.
At the start of September, banks raised a record 35 billion yuan from the central bank through its one-day swaps.
“I think the central bank can do something. They hopefully understand the need to increase the liquidity offer through swaps,” said Andrei Kostin, CEO of second-largest lender VTB, stressing that exporters should sell more yuan as well.
The acute yuan shortage also follows months of delays in payments for trade with Russia by Chinese banks, which have grown wary of dealing with Russia after U.S. threats of secondary Western sanctions. These problems culminated in August in billions of yuan being stuck in limbo.
Russia and China have been discussing a joint system for bilateral payments, but no breakthrough is in sight. VTB’s Kostin said that since Russia’s trade with China was balanced, establishing a clearing mechanism for payments in national currencies should not be a problem.
Forex
Bank of America sees more downside for the dollar
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Investing,com – The US dollar has stabilized after a sharp fall in August, but Bank of America Securities sees more troubles ahead for the US currency.
At 07:20 ET (11:20 GMT), the Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, traded 0.2% lower to 101.077, having largely held its course over the last week.
That said, the US currency is still down 1.6% over the month.
The dollar’s selloff last month stood out in a historical context, according to analysts at Bank of America Securities, in a note dated Sept. 5.
The greenback has since stabilized, however, despite the outsized weakness, the US bank still sees three reasons to stay bearish on the Dollar Index (DXY).
Following similar episodes of bearish DXY breakouts, the index has tended to continue its downtrend, the bank said.
In the last 3 analogs, DXY index fell on average for another 4% before reaching a bottom. Extending this analysis to bilateral USD/G10 pairs suggests a continuation of the USD downtrend is more likely vs EUR, GBP, and AUD than SEK, NOK, and CHF in G10.
While the DXY made a new year-to-date low in August, broad nominal and real USD trade-weighted indices have stayed at Q4 2022 levels and would suggest the USD remains overvalued.
The USD selloff in 2024 has been concentrated in and other European currencies, leading to DXY divergence from other USD indices.
The bank also noted US 10y Treasury yield’s tendency to fall after the first Federal Reserve cut, while global financial conditions are set to loosen further.
“USD may see more weakness as other central banks, particularly the ones that cut policy rates ahead of the Fed, can now afford to let the Fed do some of their work and indirectly support global economies outside of the US,” BoA added.
Forex
Dollar’s demise appears overstated – JPMorgan
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Investing.com – The US dollar has had a difficult summer, dropping substantially during the month of August, but JPMorgan thinks those predicting the demise of the U.S. currency are getting ahead of themselves.
At 06:00 ET (10:00 GMT), the Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, traded 0.2% lower to 101.127, having lost 1.6% over the course of the last month.
“Diversification away from the dollar is a growing trend,” said analysts at JPMorgan, in a note dated Sept. 4, “but we find that the factors that support dollar dominance remain well-entrenched and structural in nature.”
The dollar’s role in global finance and its economic and financial stability implications are supported by deep and liquid capital markets, rule of law and predictable legal systems, commitment to a free-floating regime, and smooth functioning of the financial system for USD liquidity and institutional transparency, the bank added.
Additionally, the genuine confidence of the private sector in the dollar as a store of value seems uncontested, and the dollar remains the most widely used currency across a variety of metrics.
That said, “we are witnessing greater diversification and important shifts in cross-border transactions as a result of sanctions against Russia, China’s efforts to bolster usage of the RMB, and geoeconomic fragmentation,” JPMorgan said.
The more important and underappreciated risk, the bank added, is the increased focus on payments autonomy and the desire to develop alternative financial systems and payments mechanisms that do not rely on the US dollar.
“De-dollarization risks appear exaggerated, but cross-border flows are dramatically transforming within trading blocs and commodity markets, along with a rise in alternative financial architecture for global payments,” JPMorgan said.
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