Forex
Euro slumps on political uncertainty; dollar looks to Fed meeting
Investing.com – The euro slumped Monday, falling to a one-month low, on rising regional political uncertainty, while the U.S. dollar awaits the Federal Reserve’s meeting later in the week.
At 04:0 ET (08:20 GMT), slumped 0.3% to 1.0764, after falling as low at 1.0748 earlier in the session, a one-month low.
Euro slumps on political uncertainty
The single currency slumped Monday after the results from the European Parliament elections, which concluded on Sunday, showed eurosceptic nationalists made the biggest gains.
This prompted French President Emmanuel Macron to call a snap legislative election, taking a gamble to try to reestablish his authority by calling after sharp gains by far-right political rival Marine Le Pen.
“While Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party has shifted away from the anti-euro manifesto it ran on in 2017, fears about shifting support for Ukraine stand to unnerve markets,” said analysts at ING, in a note.
“EUR/USD may well have another leg lower to the 1.0700/0720 area once U.S. investors fully have a chance to appreciate events in European politics.”
Dollar hands back some gains
The U.S. dollar edged lower Monday, handing back some of Friday’s strong gains, as traders awaited the latest meeting as well as the release of the latest inflation data.
At 04:00 ET, the , which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, traded 0.1% lower at 104.790.
The greenback received a boost late last week, climbing to a near one-month high, after data showed stronger than expected growth in in May, reducing the perceived chances of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year.
Markets are now pricing in 36 basis points of Fed cuts this year compared to nearly 50 bps – or at least two cuts – before the jobs data.
The Fed concludes its latest two-day policy meeting on Wednesday, and is widely expected to leave rates unchanged.
The spotlight instead will be on comments from Chair , any changes to economic projections, as well as key U.S. data.
fell marginally to 1.2724, with sterling trading in a tight range ahead of the Bank of England’s next later this month.
BOJ meeting looms large
In Asia, traded 0.1% higher to 156.90, with the yen remaining weak even as data showed Japan’s economy shrank slightly less than expected in the first quarter.
But the economy still remained squarely in contraction.
The meets later this week, and the central bank is expected to begin tightening policy by reducing its asset purchases. But how much the BOJ can tighten policy remains uncertain, given that the economy remains weak.
traded largely unchanged at 7.2477, with the pair remaining close to six-month highs as the Chinese economy continued to battle with an uneven economic recovery.
Investing.com – The US dollar has gained more ground as the US presidential election draws near, UBS noted, with the market seeing rising odds of a win for Republican candidate Donald Trump.
A new USD-positive over the past week has been media reports of somewhat better outlook for Donald Trump in the latest polls, as outcomes that allow for policies such as more aggressive tariffs are viewed as more USD positive.
“Higher odds of a Trump presidency are likely to be associated with a stronger USD near term,” said analysts at UBS, in a note dated Oct. 16.
Where does this leave us now with our USD views?
Our expected ranges between Sep–Dec 2024 incorporated the possibility of a material USD rebound between now and year end, even if our year-end forecasts see a modestly lower USD from current levels.
Last week, with an eye to our year end forecast, we entered a long call reverse knockout, but we are not willing to implement a similar trade yet for and .
The spot is still far enough from our range extremes and high JPY implied volatility and negative carry make long JPY positions unattractive so close to US elections.
Turning to this week’s ECB meeting, the market is very confident that another 25bp rate cut will be delivered and we do not have a strong reason to disagree.
Market expectations are very muted for any form of surprise, and risk reversal skews bid again for EUR puts point to a market that is already primed for the risk of EUR softness.
With market pricing in line with our economists’ terminal rate expectations, we see EUR/USD as more exposed to US developments near-term, leaving us reluctant to fade recent softness on ECB reasons alone.
At 06:30 ET (10:30 GMT), EUR/USD rose 0.1% to 1.0894, USD/JPY gained 0.1% to 149.34 and AUD/USD fell 0.2% to 0.6685.
Investing.com – The European Central Bank holds its latest policy-setting meeting later this week, and Citigroup advises selling any rallies in the euro around this key event.
Markets are pricing in around 49 basis points of easing over the remaining two ECB meetings this year, which could limit dovish repricing around Thursday’s event, according to analysts at Citi, in a note dated Oct. 15.
“We see scope for a tactical bounce in EUR around this Thursday’s ECB meeting, which we like fading into November as US election risk premium materializes,” Citi said.
That said, “we like fading any subsequent rallies in EUR as we approach November and US election risk premium gets better priced.”
There is some evidence of this unfolding, the bank added, as EUR looks undervalued on its short-term fair value model and as Citi’s FX Positioning data suggests adding to EUR shorts.
“But our broader FX election basket still screens as undervalued relative to Trump betting markets, and we remain short EURUSD in both spot and options,” says Citi. “We would look to sell any retest of the 1.10 double top neckline — any break above there risks a move towards our adjusted stop of 1.1050, but if that resistance holds, we have higher conviction of a move towards our (and the double top) target of 1.08, with potential overshoot towards 1.07.”
At 05:25 ET (09:25 GMT), traded largely flat at 1.0892, almost 2% lower over the last month.
Investing.com – The U.S. dollar edged higher Wednesday, trading near two-month peaks on expectations of modest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve this year, while sterling slumped after benign inflation data.
At 04:15 ET (08:15 GMT), the Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, traded 0.1% higher to 103.180, remaining close to Monday’s two-month peak.
Dollar helped by trimmed rate cut expectations
Recent data indicating a resilient economy coupled with slightly hotter-than-expected inflation in September have led market participants to trim bets for an aggressive U.S. rate reduction.
Adding to these expectations were comments from Atlanta Federal Reserve President on Tuesday, who said he had penciled in just one more interest rate reduction of 25 basis points this year when he updated his projections for last month’s U.S. central bank meeting.
Most market participants see two more cuts this year, totaling 50 bps, and traders currently lay 92% odds for a 25-basis-point cut when the Fed next decides policy on Nov. 7, with an 8% probability of no change, according to CME Group’s (NASDAQ:) FedWatch Tool.
Sterling slumps after inflation release
In Europe, slumped 0.5% to 1.3003, after data showed British inflation fell more than expected in September, paving the way for a rate cut next month.
The UK’s fell to 1.7% on an annual basis, below the forecast 1.9% and the 2.2% recorded a month earlier.
This was the first time it had fallen below the Bank of England’s 2% target since April 2021, and added to data seen earlier in the week that showed British pay grew at its slowest pace in more than two years.
“The data is unequivocally dovish for the Bank of England and paves the way for rate cuts at the two remaining meetings this year (November and December),” said analysts at ING, in a note.
“Given the comments by Governor Andrew Bailey earlier this month suggesting the BoE could increase the pace of easing, markets may be tempted to price in some chance of a 50bp rate cut in November.”
traded 0.1% lower to 1.0882, ahead of Thursday’s policy-setting meeting by the European Central Bank.
The has already lowered rates twice this year and a cut to the 3.5% deposit rate this week is almost fully priced in by financial markets.
“EUR/USD is predominantly driven by external factors. The substantial drop in oil prices has narrowed the scope for a further drop based on market factors, but we continue to suspect that pre-US election positioning should favor a weaker EUR/USD,” said ING.
Yuan nurses weekly losses
fell slightly to 7.1179, with the yuan nursing losses this week as sentiment soured over the country’s plans for more stimulus.
China’s Ministry of Finance said it will enact a slew of fiscal measures to boost growth, but did not specify the timing or size of the planned measures, spurring uncertainty over its effectiveness.
rose 0.2% to 149.43, with the pair climbing closer to the 150 resistance level.
data due later this week is expected to offer more cues on the Bank of Japan’s plans to hike rates further.
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