US Dollar locked and loaded for a third week of gains

The US Dollar trades higher for the week after US PMI's outpace European PMI's.
Markets see Greenback testing 159 in USD/JPY.
The US Dollar index trades in the green and almost certainly locks in a third consecutive week of gains.

The US Dollar (USD) jumps higher in the US session after the upbeat Purchase Managers Index (PMI) numbers for the United States, outpacing the European ones which were missing estimates. The US Dollar had already shot higher overnight, with the Greenback outpacing the Japanese Yen (JPY) again, hitting 159.00 at USD/JPY, whilst tech wale Nvidia dove over 3% and lost $91 billion at the US closing bell.

On the economic data front, nearly all data components have been issued. Main takeaway for this week is that the housing market is further easing on several fronts, while other US data, such as the PMI's, are not showing any exceptionalisme anymore. For example, the Services PMI came in, in line with the higest estimate for the econonmists survey.

Daily digest market movers: Shure it's higher, but convincing?

Masato Kanda, vice-minister for international affairs at Japan's Ministry of Finance, said that Japan is ready to take proper action on FX when needed. This comment sent the US Dollar back up to 159 against the Japanese Yen.
Preliminary S&P Global/HCOB PMI data for France, Germany, and the Eurozone showed worst-than-expected numbers. As a result, the Euro retreats further against the US Dollar, falling below 1.07.
At 13:45 GMT, S&P Global has released the June’s PMI preliminary reading per sector:
- Services sector came in at 55.1, coming from 54.8.
- Manufacturing ticked up slightly from 51.7 to 51.3.
- The Composite Index was at 54.5 in May, and ticked up marginally to 54.6.
At 14:00 GMT, in the slipstream of the US PMI release, Existing Home Sales data for May was released. Sales dropped from 4.14 million to 4.11 million.
Equities are holding on to their negative print for this Friday, even after the US PMI numbers.
The CME Fedwatch futures for September are backing a rate cut, with odds now standing at 57.9% for a 25 basis point cut. A rate pause stands at a 35.9% chance, while a 50-basis-point rate cut has a slim 6.2% possibility.
The US 10-year benchmark rate is trading at 4.25, right in the middle of this week’s range after briefly hitting 4.29% on Thursday.

US Dollar Index Technical Analysis: Not that moving

The US Dollar Index (DXY) is breaking higher and has good odds to lock in a third consecutive week of gains. Although refraining from any soccer analogies, looking at the chart, it is quite clear that the Greenback has not played a good game this week. However, what counts is the end result, and that looks to be a win for the Greenback with a big thank you to the weaker Japanese Yen, France’s political turmoil, and the further contracting PMIs in Europe as main drivers.

On the upside, there are no big changes to the levels traders need to watch out for. The first level to watch is 105.88, which triggered a rejection at the start of May and will likely play its role as resistance again. Further up, the biggest challenge remains at 106.51, the year-to-date high from April 16.

On the downside, that 105.52 level is first support ahead of the trifecta of Simple Moving Averages (SMA) is still playing as support. First is the 55-day SMA at 105.14, safeguarding the 105.00 figure. A touch lower, near 104.61 and 104.48, both the 100-day and the 200-day SMA are forming a double layer of protection to support any declines. Should this area be broken, look for 104.00 to salvage the situation.

Banking crisis FAQs

What happened during the Banking Crisis?

The Banking Crisis of March 2023 occurred when three US-based banks with heavy exposure to the tech-sector and crypto suffered a spike in withdrawals that revealed severe weaknesses in their balance sheets, resulting in their insolvency. The most high profile of the banks was California-based Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) which experienced a surge in withdrawal requests due to a combination of customers fearing fallout from the FTX debacle, and substantially higher returns being offered elsewhere.

How did Silicon Valley Bank spread the banking liquidity crisis?

In order to fulfill the redemptions, Silicon Valley Bank had to sell its holdings of predominantly US Treasury bonds. Due to the rise in interest rates caused by the Federal Reserve’s rapid tightening measures, however, Treasury bonds had substantially fallen in value. The news that SVB had taken a $1.8B loss from the sale of its bonds triggered a panic and precipitated a full scale run on the bank that ended with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) having to take it over.The crisis spread to San-Francisco-based First Republic which ended up being rescued by a coordinated effort from a group of large US banks. On March 19, Credit Suisse in Switzerland fell foul after several years of poor performance and had to be taken over by UBS.

What was the impact of the Banking Crisis on the US Dollar?

The Banking Crisis was negative for the US Dollar (USD) because it changed expectations about the future course of interest rates. Prior to the crisis investors had expected the Federal Reserve (Fed) to continue raising interest rates to combat persistently high inflation, however, once it became clear how much stress this was placing on the banking sector by devaluing bank holdings of US Treasury bonds, the expectation was the Fed would pause or even reverse its policy trajectory. Since higher interest rates are positive for the US Dollar, it fell as it discounted the possibility of a policy pivot.

What was the impact of the Banking Crisis on the price of Gold?

The Banking Crisis was a bullish event for Gold. Firstly it benefited from demand due to its status as a safe-haven asset. Secondly, it led to investors expecting the Federal Reserve (Fed) to pause its aggressive rate-hiking policy, out of fear of the impact on the financial stability of the banking system – lower interest rate expectations reduced the opportunity cost of holding Gold. Thirdly, Gold, which is priced in US Dollars (XAU/USD), rose in value because the US Dollar weakened.

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