Forex
Dollar edges higher; U.S. inflation is the week’s main focus
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![Dollar edges higher; U.S. inflation is the week's main focus](https://i-invdn-com.investing.com/news/LYNXMPED6I01K_L.jpg)
© Reuters.
Investing.com – The U.S. dollar edged higher in early European trade Tuesday, reversing some of the previous session’s sharp losses as traders revised their positions before data showing a potential rise in U.S. inflation.
At 03:10 ET (07:10 GMT), the Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, traded 0.1% higher to 104.332, after falling 0.5% in the prior session, retreating from last week’s six-month high of 105.15.
U.S. inflation release the main focus
The focus of the foreign exchange market this week is squarely on U.S. due on Wednesday, which is expected to set the tone for a Federal Reserve meeting next week.
The is widely expected to keep rates on hold in September, but signs that inflation is proving sticky could prompt another hike before the end of the year.
“The FOMC has already entered the pre-meeting blackout period, but the latest indications clearly pointed to a pause in September. Can inflation change policymakers’ minds? It would probably need to be a materially stronger than expected print, but from an FX perspective, expect the bullish pass-through to the dollar to be felt anyway,” said analysts at ING, in a note.
U.K. wage growth remains high
traded largely flat at 1.2505, as traders digested the latest U.K. employment data.
The U.K. rose to 4.3% in the three months to July from 4.2% a month earlier, its highest since the three months to September 2021, with the labor market showing signs of cooling.
However, were 7.8% higher than a year earlier in the three months to July – the joint-fastest rate since records began in 2001 – putting more pressure on the to tighten monetary policy further.
BOE policymaker Catherine Mann warned late Monday that it’s too soon to stop raising rates, and the central bank is widely expected to hike by another 25 basis points.
ECB policymakers have tricky decision
fell 0.1% to 1.0732, after came in as expected in August, rising 2.6% on an annual basis, a jump up from 2.3% the prior month.
The meets on Thursday, and having raised rates at each of its past nine meetings, policymakers are now debating whether to raise the deposit rate again, to 4%, or pause.
Inflation remains above target, but growth is slowing in the region, and the latest data, due later Tuesday, is expected to show a deterioration in confidence in the eurozone’s dominant economy.
Yen steadies after Ueda’s comments
rose 0.2% to 146.87, with the yen handing back some of the previous session’s outsized gains on the back of comments from Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda, who said that an end to the BOJ’s negative interest rates could be close.
Such a scenario would bode well for the yen, but the currency is still nursing steep losses for the year, hit chiefly by a widening gap between local and international interest rates.
Chinese yuan steadies but economic growth doubts remain
rose 0.1% to 7.2924, with the yuan remaining above Friday’s 16-year low after China’s central bank rolled out a series of strong daily midpoints.
That said, doubts remain over the strength of the country’s recovery from its COVID hit, with a Reuters poll now forecasting 2023 GDP growth of 5%. This is in line with China’s official forecast, but lower than forecasts from investment banks.
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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