Spain reported that its consumer prices rose 2.6% year-on-year in August, up from 2.3% in July. This fell directly in line with analysts’ predictions. German state North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) saw a 5.9% year-on-year rise in inflation, up from 5.8% in July and signifying that the ECB may not bring an end to its interest rate hikes anytime soon.

Money markets are pricing a 60% chance of the ECB hiking rates by 25 basis points in September. “A September hike at this stage could be more of a coin toss, but more importantly, we sense that the hawks will see it as a last chance to hike one final time,” Benjamin Schroeder, a senior rates strategist at ING observed.

The post Euro Eases Against Dollar As Investors Await Clues On ECB Interest Rate Path appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

Measured against the greenback, the euro fell to its lowest point since mid-June at around $1.0766, declining 0.13% on the day. Still, the dollar strengthened overall against major world currencies as a whole, with the dollar index rising to 104.31, the highest since June 6. Most recently, the index slipped 0.1%, suggesting that observers are exhibiting caution ahead of Powell’s address at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium.

Aside from inflation concerns, the euro was also hit by a slump in manufacturing activity across the European continent. This slide in business activity has raised bets for further rate hikes.

The post Euro Slips Amid ECB Rate Talks appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

Eurozone inflation decreased from 7.0% to 6.1% in May, beating estimates of 6.3% from a Reuters poll of analysts. Still, European policymakers believe that there is more work to be done as inflation remains significantly higher than the ECB’s target rate of 2%.

“Today, inflation is too high and it is set to remain so for too long,” Lagarde declared in a speech on Thursday morning. “We have made clear that we still have ground to cover to bring interest rates to sufficiently restrictive levels.”

In response to Lagarde’s statement, markets have now priced an 85% chance of a 25 basis point hike when the ECB convenes for its policy meeting on June 15.

On the morning of the announcement, the euro remained flat at $1.0692, above the two-month low of $1.0635 that it hit on Wednesday.

The post Euro Steadies as ECB President Promises Further Rate Hikes appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

German inflation edged lower as energy prices eased, however, it remained higher than forecasts, thereby keeping pressure on the European Central Bank to continue its tight fiscal policy that includes maintaining interest rate hikes.

Separate data indicated that Spain’s consumer prices rose at 3.3% year-on-year; the slowest pace since the 12-month period through August 2021. Slower than analysts’ expectations, this development also gave rise to improved European economic sentiment.

On Thursday, the euro gained 0.55% against the U.S. dollar to rise to $1.09035 – a trend that Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management, expects to continue.

“We believe the main pillars of U.S. dollar strength last year — aggressive tightening by the Federal Reserve and a resilient U.S. economy — are unlikely to support the currency going forward,” Haefele observed.

The post Euro Gains Ground Against Dollar Following Release Of Inflation Data appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

The dollar index rose 0.536% at 103.140, with the euro sliding by 0.71% to $1.0753. The British pound was down 0.53% to $1.222; cooling from its seven-week high of $1.2341 during the previous session. This came after the Bank of England raised interest rates by 25 basis points on Thursday. The BoE speculated that the recent uptick in inflation would be short-lived, thereby sparking speculation that its interest rate hiking agenda could be drawing to a close.

Banking stocks have plummeted this month following the collapse of the U.S.-based Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, beginning the global banking crisis. This week saw the emergency sale of Credit Suisse to UBS in a last-ditch effort to save the 167-year-old banking institution.

Several major banking stocks have plummeted since the start of the ongoing banking turmoil, including European heavyweights Deutsche Bank and UBS Group.

The post U.S. Dollar Strengthens Against Euro, Sterling As Markets Wrap appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

Among those currencies that the dollar performed notably well against is the Japanese yen, with the greenback strengthening by almost 1% to 132.76 yen; near last week’s 132.9.

While the euro strengthened by a marginal 0.15% against the dollar to reach $1.0693 and the pound rose 0.3% to $1.2096, the dollar index remains steady at 103.55, just shy of last week’s one-month peak of 103.9.

Investor focus is now shifting toward Tuesday’s consumer price index data, after previously being set on the actions of the Federal Reserve. Following Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s public address last week, investors are expecting the Federal Reserve to keep their monetary policy tighter for longer.

This turnaround comes after signs of cooling inflation pushed observers to believe that the Federal Reserve would be loosening its strict monetary policy.

The post U.S. Dollar Strengthens Ahead of CPI Data appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

While the Australian dollar hit $0.7000 for the first time since August, the euro hit a nine-month high of $1.0874 during early trading. The dollar index, which tracks the dollar against a basket of major currencies, fell to a seven-month low of 101.77. The greenback extended its major selloff from last week after U.S. consumer prices fell for the first time in over two and a half years.

The dollar’s decline has also been largely attributed to growing investor confidence that the Federal Reserve will soon bring an end to its aggressive interest rate policy. The Federal Reserve’s significant interest rate hikes are viewed as a major driver for the dollar’s 8% surge in 2022.

Samy Chaar, the chief economist at Lombard Odier, cautioned against overly-optimistic investor outlooks. “It’s too soon to imagine a significant dollar downtrend, we’ve had some dollar repricing certainly, but for broad-based dollar weakness you’ll need to really see Fed expectations roll over materially and the Fed potentially cutting rates at some point, and we are not at this point,” Chaar explained.

The post Dollar Remains Rooted to Seven-Month Low as Euro and Yen Gain Ground appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

French ECB policymaker Francois Villeroy de Galhau stated on Wednesday that interest rate hikes from the central bank will most likely need to persist in the coming months. In addition, the ECB confirmed that wage pressures are likely to persist during this time period, with governing council member Mario Centeno adding that he only expects European inflation to subside by March at the earliest.

U.S. investors are awaiting incoming inflation data in order to gain more insight into what interest rate policy to expect from the Federal Reserve going forward. Fed Chair Jerome Powell avoided shedding light on any policy decisions during a panel discussion in Stockholm on Tuesday.

While the dollar gained 0.2% to 103.45 against a basket of currencies including the euro, the euro climbed to $1.0732, edging closer to its strongest level against the greenback over the past seven months.

Since hitting a 20-year in September, the dollar has lost 12% against the euro.

The post Dollar and Euro Remain Stable Amid ECB Statement and U.S. Inflation Data appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

While the Nord Stream was already operating at a low capacity prior to the stoppage, Russia delayed the planned resumption of services on Saturday after detecting what it identified as an oil leak in a turbine. This comes at a precarious time for European nations looking to build up the gas supply they require for the winter months ahead. Currently, members of the European Union are scrambling to find alternative sources of natural gas in the face of the EU ban on the import of Russian goods.

During early European trade on Monday, the euro fell to $0.9876; the lowest rate since 2002. Michael Cahill, a strategist at Goldman Sachs, stated that his firm expects the euro to fall further below $0.97, explaining, “Gas flows have been curtailed even more than expected and we have already seen evidence of demand destruction weighing on activity.”

Other currencies that are also closely correlated with energy prices suffered major losses as well, with the sterling falling by 0.5% to a new 2-1/2 year low of $1.1444.

The post Europe Plummets to 20-Year Low Following Russian Oil Ban appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

There are quite a few reasons for Euro’s tumble, including European Central Bank’s unwillingness to commit to aggressive interest rate hikes, rising gas prices, and increased demand for the USD. The European Union currency has shed close to 10 percent of its value against the dollar since the start of 2022.

According to Bloomberg, there is a strong possibility that Euro and USD will reach parity by year-end. Their option-pricing model predicted 46 percent chances of parity at the start of the week before hiking it to a 60% chance on Tuesday.

Others believe that parity is not a question of if but when.

“Parity is just a matter of time now,” said Mizuho Bank’s FX expert Neil Jones.

Inflation is taking over the eurozone, but the European Central Bank is yet to show resolution in fighting against it. There are some reports that the 25 basis-point increase in rates is planned for late July, which would be the first for the institution in 11 years.

In the meantime, the Federal Reserve has been aggressive in trying to stomp inflation. It already buffed the rates by 150 basis points, and another 75 basis-point increase is set for later this month.

The post Euro Dips to 20-Year Low Against USD, Closing in on Parity appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

Spain reported that its consumer prices rose 2.6% year-on-year in August, up from 2.3% in July. This fell directly in line with analysts’ predictions. German state North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) saw a 5.9% year-on-year rise in inflation, up from 5.8% in July and signifying that the ECB may not bring an end to its interest rate hikes anytime soon.

Money markets are pricing a 60% chance of the ECB hiking rates by 25 basis points in September. “A September hike at this stage could be more of a coin toss, but more importantly, we sense that the hawks will see it as a last chance to hike one final time,” Benjamin Schroeder, a senior rates strategist at ING observed.

The post Euro Eases Against Dollar As Investors Await Clues On ECB Interest Rate Path appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

Measured against the greenback, the euro fell to its lowest point since mid-June at around $1.0766, declining 0.13% on the day. Still, the dollar strengthened overall against major world currencies as a whole, with the dollar index rising to 104.31, the highest since June 6. Most recently, the index slipped 0.1%, suggesting that observers are exhibiting caution ahead of Powell’s address at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium.

Aside from inflation concerns, the euro was also hit by a slump in manufacturing activity across the European continent. This slide in business activity has raised bets for further rate hikes.

The post Euro Slips Amid ECB Rate Talks appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

Eurozone inflation decreased from 7.0% to 6.1% in May, beating estimates of 6.3% from a Reuters poll of analysts. Still, European policymakers believe that there is more work to be done as inflation remains significantly higher than the ECB’s target rate of 2%.

“Today, inflation is too high and it is set to remain so for too long,” Lagarde declared in a speech on Thursday morning. “We have made clear that we still have ground to cover to bring interest rates to sufficiently restrictive levels.”

In response to Lagarde’s statement, markets have now priced an 85% chance of a 25 basis point hike when the ECB convenes for its policy meeting on June 15.

On the morning of the announcement, the euro remained flat at $1.0692, above the two-month low of $1.0635 that it hit on Wednesday.

The post Euro Steadies as ECB President Promises Further Rate Hikes appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

German inflation edged lower as energy prices eased, however, it remained higher than forecasts, thereby keeping pressure on the European Central Bank to continue its tight fiscal policy that includes maintaining interest rate hikes.

Separate data indicated that Spain’s consumer prices rose at 3.3% year-on-year; the slowest pace since the 12-month period through August 2021. Slower than analysts’ expectations, this development also gave rise to improved European economic sentiment.

On Thursday, the euro gained 0.55% against the U.S. dollar to rise to $1.09035 – a trend that Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management, expects to continue.

“We believe the main pillars of U.S. dollar strength last year — aggressive tightening by the Federal Reserve and a resilient U.S. economy — are unlikely to support the currency going forward,” Haefele observed.

The post Euro Gains Ground Against Dollar Following Release Of Inflation Data appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

The dollar index rose 0.536% at 103.140, with the euro sliding by 0.71% to $1.0753. The British pound was down 0.53% to $1.222; cooling from its seven-week high of $1.2341 during the previous session. This came after the Bank of England raised interest rates by 25 basis points on Thursday. The BoE speculated that the recent uptick in inflation would be short-lived, thereby sparking speculation that its interest rate hiking agenda could be drawing to a close.

Banking stocks have plummeted this month following the collapse of the U.S.-based Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, beginning the global banking crisis. This week saw the emergency sale of Credit Suisse to UBS in a last-ditch effort to save the 167-year-old banking institution.

Several major banking stocks have plummeted since the start of the ongoing banking turmoil, including European heavyweights Deutsche Bank and UBS Group.

The post U.S. Dollar Strengthens Against Euro, Sterling As Markets Wrap appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

Among those currencies that the dollar performed notably well against is the Japanese yen, with the greenback strengthening by almost 1% to 132.76 yen; near last week’s 132.9.

While the euro strengthened by a marginal 0.15% against the dollar to reach $1.0693 and the pound rose 0.3% to $1.2096, the dollar index remains steady at 103.55, just shy of last week’s one-month peak of 103.9.

Investor focus is now shifting toward Tuesday’s consumer price index data, after previously being set on the actions of the Federal Reserve. Following Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s public address last week, investors are expecting the Federal Reserve to keep their monetary policy tighter for longer.

This turnaround comes after signs of cooling inflation pushed observers to believe that the Federal Reserve would be loosening its strict monetary policy.

The post U.S. Dollar Strengthens Ahead of CPI Data appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

While the Australian dollar hit $0.7000 for the first time since August, the euro hit a nine-month high of $1.0874 during early trading. The dollar index, which tracks the dollar against a basket of major currencies, fell to a seven-month low of 101.77. The greenback extended its major selloff from last week after U.S. consumer prices fell for the first time in over two and a half years.

The dollar’s decline has also been largely attributed to growing investor confidence that the Federal Reserve will soon bring an end to its aggressive interest rate policy. The Federal Reserve’s significant interest rate hikes are viewed as a major driver for the dollar’s 8% surge in 2022.

Samy Chaar, the chief economist at Lombard Odier, cautioned against overly-optimistic investor outlooks. “It’s too soon to imagine a significant dollar downtrend, we’ve had some dollar repricing certainly, but for broad-based dollar weakness you’ll need to really see Fed expectations roll over materially and the Fed potentially cutting rates at some point, and we are not at this point,” Chaar explained.

The post Dollar Remains Rooted to Seven-Month Low as Euro and Yen Gain Ground appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

French ECB policymaker Francois Villeroy de Galhau stated on Wednesday that interest rate hikes from the central bank will most likely need to persist in the coming months. In addition, the ECB confirmed that wage pressures are likely to persist during this time period, with governing council member Mario Centeno adding that he only expects European inflation to subside by March at the earliest.

U.S. investors are awaiting incoming inflation data in order to gain more insight into what interest rate policy to expect from the Federal Reserve going forward. Fed Chair Jerome Powell avoided shedding light on any policy decisions during a panel discussion in Stockholm on Tuesday.

While the dollar gained 0.2% to 103.45 against a basket of currencies including the euro, the euro climbed to $1.0732, edging closer to its strongest level against the greenback over the past seven months.

Since hitting a 20-year in September, the dollar has lost 12% against the euro.

The post Dollar and Euro Remain Stable Amid ECB Statement and U.S. Inflation Data appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

While the Nord Stream was already operating at a low capacity prior to the stoppage, Russia delayed the planned resumption of services on Saturday after detecting what it identified as an oil leak in a turbine. This comes at a precarious time for European nations looking to build up the gas supply they require for the winter months ahead. Currently, members of the European Union are scrambling to find alternative sources of natural gas in the face of the EU ban on the import of Russian goods.

During early European trade on Monday, the euro fell to $0.9876; the lowest rate since 2002. Michael Cahill, a strategist at Goldman Sachs, stated that his firm expects the euro to fall further below $0.97, explaining, “Gas flows have been curtailed even more than expected and we have already seen evidence of demand destruction weighing on activity.”

Other currencies that are also closely correlated with energy prices suffered major losses as well, with the sterling falling by 0.5% to a new 2-1/2 year low of $1.1444.

The post Europe Plummets to 20-Year Low Following Russian Oil Ban appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

There are quite a few reasons for Euro’s tumble, including European Central Bank’s unwillingness to commit to aggressive interest rate hikes, rising gas prices, and increased demand for the USD. The European Union currency has shed close to 10 percent of its value against the dollar since the start of 2022.

According to Bloomberg, there is a strong possibility that Euro and USD will reach parity by year-end. Their option-pricing model predicted 46 percent chances of parity at the start of the week before hiking it to a 60% chance on Tuesday.

Others believe that parity is not a question of if but when.

“Parity is just a matter of time now,” said Mizuho Bank’s FX expert Neil Jones.

Inflation is taking over the eurozone, but the European Central Bank is yet to show resolution in fighting against it. There are some reports that the 25 basis-point increase in rates is planned for late July, which would be the first for the institution in 11 years.

In the meantime, the Federal Reserve has been aggressive in trying to stomp inflation. It already buffed the rates by 150 basis points, and another 75 basis-point increase is set for later this month.

The post Euro Dips to 20-Year Low Against USD, Closing in on Parity appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.