Calm Dominates The Currency Market Ahead Of The World's Largest Economic Data, 14 MARCH

 Calm Dominates The Currency Market Ahead Of The World's Largest Economic Data

Economy |Today  Baghdad today - follow-up  A state of calm prevailed in the currency market, today, Thursday (March 14, 2024), with the US dollar holding steady against its major counterparts at a time when traders are awaiting more data from the largest economy in the world in search of indicators about the direction of the Federal Reserve (the US Central Bank) policy. .

The Consumer Price Index data in the United States, which was released last Tuesday, and showed a higher-than-expected rise in US inflation, reignited fears that inflation may continue, which made investors reassess the chances of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates at its meeting in June, as was expected in the previous.

According to the London Stock Exchange Group's interest rate move probability app, markets still see a 65 percent chance of a rate cut in June, down from 71 percent earlier in the week. While the probability of reducing the interest rate in July is about 83 percent.

In light of expectations that the US Central Bank will keep interest rates unchanged at its meeting next week, the focus turns to the bank's updated economic forecasts.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said last week that the bank is "not far away" from gaining the confidence needed to start easing monetary policy.

Markets are awaiting US retail sales data, producer price index (factory door inflation) data, and unemployment claims scheduled to be released later Thursday, searching for further indications of an economic slowdown.

Before the data was released, the dollar index, which measures the US currency against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.1 percent to 102.85.

Against the yen, the dollar rose 0.1 percent to 147.89 yen, as it remains uncertain whether the Bank of Japan will move to abandon negative interest rates at the monetary policy meeting on March 18-19.

Sources told Reuters that the Japanese central bank will discuss ending negative interest rates next week if wage talks between major companies produce strong results.

The preliminary results of wage negotiations are scheduled to be announced tomorrow, Friday, and reports have already stated that many of the country's largest companies have fully agreed to union demands for wage increases.

The euro fell 0.05 percent to $1.0942, ahead of expected statements by a number of European Central Bank officials on Thursday.

The British pound settled at $1.2792. Data yesterday, Wednesday, showed that the British economy returned to growth in January after entering a recession in the second half of 2023.

In terms of cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin stabilized at $73,092.00 after hitting a record level of $73,678 in the previous session, and Ether fell 0.72 percent to $3,963.70. Source: Agencies   LINK