,  After two sessions of decline in the general index of the US dollar and a retreat from its highest levels in 16 months amid a state of profit-taking, the US dollar regains its strength in the middle of trading today, Friday, the 19th of November, the closing session of the week, as the dollar rises by 0.50% and is trading at 96 levels and is heading to record weekly gains approaching from 1% for the fourth consecutive week.

Amid the absence of economic indicators affecting the movements of the US dollar in the closing session, it seems that investors are raising their bets that the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in the middle of next year, despite the fact that the Fed members’ statements were mixed during the week regarding the date of raising interest rates, but the markets are pricing an opportunity of more than 70 % According to FedWatch’s CME Group tool, the interest rate will be raised next July, and accordingly this hypothesis supports the continuation of the US dollar’s rises.

In a related context, statements by European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde at the European Banking Conference in Frankfurt this morning supported the declines of the euro, as Lagarde stressed that monetary policy should not be tightened at the present time because it would stifle the recovery and that inflation rates are considered temporary and it is preferable to focus on inflation rates in the long run.

The average is not the current one, and it is not expected that the conditions for raising interest rates will be achieved next year. These statements show the widening gap between monetary policy in the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank, and consequently the declines of the euro support the rises of the US dollar, given that the euro represents about 57.6% of the general index basket of the US dollar.

During today’s session, the markets are awaiting data from the Canadian economy such as retail sales and house prices, while we will also watch statements by members of the FOMC (Waller – Clarida) during the American session.

The euro is trading at 1.13 levels against the US dollar, down by more than 70 points, and close to the bottom recorded at the beginning of the week at 1.1265, the lowest level since July 2020.

The British pound in turn, despite the retail data that came better than expectations, is down more than 90 pips during the day and is trading at 1.3415 levels, affected by the rise in the US dollar.