USD holds steady as Fed official warns on asset purchases

[JusephHubert]

The US dollar rose against other currencies after a senior Federal Reserve official said that the bank should exit its emergency bond-buying program. In an interview with the Financial Times, Eric Rosengreen, CEO and president of Boston Fed, said that the ongoing bond purchases were ill-suited to address some of the challenges facing the economy like supply shortages. He said that the solution was for the government to end some of its stimulus measures and urge people to go back to work. This has, in turn, led to supply shortages, which has pushed prices higher.

The British pound tilted higher even after the relatively weak UK inflation data. According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), the country’s consumer price index (CPI) declined from 2.5% in June to 2.0% in July. This decline was worse than the median estimate of 2.3%. The core CPI that excludes the volatile food and energy prices declined from 2.3% to 1.9%. This was lower than the estimated 2.2%. Meanwhile, the producer price index input and output rose to 9.9% and 4.9%, respectively.

The NZDUSD wavered after the latest Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) interest rate decision. The bank decided to leave interest rates unchanged at 0.25%, where it has been in the past few months. Analysts were expecting that the bank will hike interest rates by about 0.25%. In its statement, the bank attributed the decision to the country’s reintroduction of level 2 lockdowns after it reported one Covid-19 case.
NZD/USD

The NZDUSD pair declined after the latest RBNZ decision. It initially declined to 0.6868, which was the lowest level since November. It is trading at 0.6895, which is below this month’s high of 0.7090. On the four-hour chart, the price is along the lower side of the Bollinger Bands while the MACD has declined substantially. Therefore, the pair will likely bounce back in the next few days as New Zealand manages to address the Covid situation.

GBP/USD

The GBPUSD pair tilted slightly higher as investors reflected on the latest UK inflation numbers. On the four-hour chart, the pair moved to the lower line of the descending channel. The pair has also formed an inverse head and shoulders pattern, which is usually a bullish sign. Still, it remains below the 25-day moving average while the Relative Strength Index (RSI) has moved below the oversold level. The pair will likely bounce back ahead of the FOMC minutes.

USD/JPY

The USDJPY pair rose to a high of 109.63, which was slightly above last Friday’s low of 109.10. On the four-hour chart, the pair is still below the 25-day and 15-day moving averages. The MACD indicator has made a bullish divergence pattern while the moving average of oscillator has moved above the neutral line. Therefore, the pair will likely continue rising as bulls target the key resistance at 110.