Key Points:
• USD momentum continues
• Optimism continues over debt ceiling
• UK consumer confidence at pre-war highs
Recap:
The USD strength continued yesterday after Fed Logan suggested another hike is still possible given inflationary pressures and recent data. As we know from this week, data has suggested the resilience of the US economy and yesterday’s initial jobless claims came in better than expected, falling to 242,000. As a result, money markets continued to pare Fed rate cut expectations, treasury yields continued to rise, GBPUSD fell to the lowest since 26th April, and EURUSD fell to the lowest since 27th March.
Debt ceiling talks continue to have an optimistic stance after Kevin McCarthy and Chuck Schumer suggested there could be an agreement in principle as early this weekend.
Data early this morning showed that consumer confidence is now at the highest since just before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Markets
A host of speakers from the BoE, Fed and ECB will be in focus today with Fed Powell and former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke set to speak in the evening. Recent Fed talk continues to dismiss the expectation of Fed rate cuts this year, and further reiteration of this today will likely add to USD strength into the weekend.
Equals Market Analysis– 19th May 2023
Today’s Market Rates
Today’s Interbank Rates at 10:23 am against GBP movement.
GBP>EUR – 1.1506
GBP>USD – 1.2414
EUR>USD – 1.0789
GBP>CAD – 1.6733
GBP>AUD – 1.8664
GBP>SEK – 13.077
GBP>AED – 4.5576
GBP>HKD – 9.7030
GBP>ZAR – 24.046
GBP>CHF – 1.1217
Today’s Speeches
• GBP – BoE Haskel
• EUR – ECB Lagarde, De Cos
• USD – Fed Williams, Bowman, Fed chair Powell, and former chair Bernanke
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