The general index of the US dollar is heading to record gains that are the strongest since June of last year, by trading it this morning, Friday, January 28, with the opening of European markets at levels of 97.30, its highest level since June 2020, with weekly gains exceeding 1.7%, benefiting from the positivity of the US Federal Reserve midweek meeting.
After US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s hawkish statements, the markets prompted the markets to price an additional number of times to raise interest rates and pricing by more than 20% to raise interest rates by 50 basis points in the March meeting, and thus supported the continuation of the US dollar’s rises since the middle of the week.
In terms of economic data, we followed during the session yesterday, Thursday, an increase in gross domestic product by 6.9% in the fourth quarter of the year 2021, compared to the reading of the third quarter, which was revised to 2.3%, exceeding expectations that indicated a growth of about 5.3%.
In contrast, durable goods orders came on It declined in December by 0.9% after growing by about 2.6% in November.
During today’s session, the markets are awaiting the closing session of the week, the Federal Reserve’s preferred indicator for measuring inflation, represented by the PCE, or what is known as consumer spending figures. Estimates indicate that the annual index rose to 6.1% in December, compared to 5.7% in November, and therefore it is expected to support the continuation of the rises of the US dollar.
. The euro, in turn, lost more than 200 points against the US dollar and is heading to record the worst performance since June of last year, trading at 1.1134 levels, its lowest since May 2020.
The yellow metal, in turn, lost levels of 1800 dollars per ounce when it closed the session yesterday, Thursday, and is now trading at 1792 dollars per ounce, heading to record a weekly loss of more than 2%.