US Dollar Falls Ahead of Fed Chair Jerome Powell Speech
In the forex market, the US dollar fell against its major trading partners, with the focus on home sales data for June later in the week, as Federal Reserve officials are in their ‘quiet period’ until after the July 29-30 Federal Open Market Committee meeting.
Jerome Powell, US Fed Chair, will be speaking on Tuesday, and markets will parse every word for clues about the path of interest rates. The Fed has paused hikes, but sticky inflation has further fueled uncertainties about monetary policy direction.
Reflecting negative sentiment, with the dollar index staying downbeat amidst global tariff threats and a weak economic outlook. US President Donald Trump has been clamouring for Fed rate cuts.
But an accelerating consumer price index has clouded market expectations, considering the Fed’s positions on rate cuts, which are expected to be postponed until key indicators improve. While this is not going down well with Trump, US Fed Reserve chair Jerome Powell has stock to his gun with no rate cut.
Amidst rumour, analysts believe firing Powell would be unlikely to speed interest-rate cuts by the Federal Open Market Committee. European representatives will meet this week to iron out a response to Donald Trump’s latest hardline trade stance.
A quick summary of foreign exchange activity heading into Monday showed that USDEUR rose to 1.1651 from 1.1626 at the Friday US close and 1.1645 at the same time Friday morning.
There are no Eurozone data on Monday’s schedule. The next European Central Bank meeting is scheduled for Thursday, when no change in interest rates is expected.
GBPUSD rose to 1.3469 from 1.3415 at the Friday US close and 1.3454 at the same Friday morning. There are no UK data on Monday’s schedule. The next Bank of England meeting is scheduled for Aug. 7.
USDJPY fell to 147.6741 from 148.7572 at the Friday US close and 148.5281 at the same time Friday morning. Monday is a holiday in Japan, so there are were no data released overnight. The next Bank of Japan meeting is scheduled for July 30-31.
USDCAD fell to 1.3712 from 1.3729 at the Friday US close and 1.3723 at the same time Friday morning. Canadian industrial and raw materials prices for June are due to be released at 8:30 am ET, followed by the Bank of Canada’s business outlook survey. The next Bank of Canada meeting is scheduled for July 30.
Elsewhere, the offshore yuan was little changed to around 7.17 per dollar on Monday, as markets digested the latest policy decision from the People’s Bank of China. As widely expected, the central bank kept its benchmark lending rates at historic lows during its July rate-setting. #US Dollar Falls Ahead of Fed Chair Jerome Powell Speech BUA Cement Soars by 31% Amidst Anticipated Earnings Release
