FOMC Interest Rate Decision to Dominate Trader Focus This Week
One risk event is forecast to dominate proceedings in the global currency markets this week – the US Federal Reserve’s final monetary policy announcement of the year.
Analysts anticipate that America’s policymakers will reveal on Wednesday evening that they are increasing US interest rates for the first time in almost a decade and investors are braced for the pronounced price action which is likely to follow.
If the Fed does confirm a rate hike, then expect the export-driven Australian Dollar (currency : AUD), New Zealand Dollar (currency : NZD) as well as the Canadian Dollar to leak support. Meanwhile, ceteris Paribas, the US Dollar (currency : USD) should climb in value against the Pound Sterling.
UK Pound to See Volatility in Response to UK Inflation Data Tomorrow
However, the US policy decision is by no means the only tier one release during the coming seven days.
Tomorrow’s session is predicted to be a particularly packed one for meaningful statistics.
Sterling-holders will be closely monitoring November’s UK Consumer Price Index inflation numbers, due out at 0930hrs GMT, for clues on when Britain’s Base Rate might be heading higher.
Recent downbeat commentaries from the Bank of England’s policymakers have caused analysts to push back their forecasts for when the UK might be set to begin tightening policy, with some economists now factoring-in a first hike in 2017.
Tomorrow morning’s annualised CPI inflation data will have to show a marked increase from last month’s print of -0.1% in order for the Pound to record gains against the other sixteen most actively traded global currencies. A showing in positive territory should be enough to trigger such a move.
Eurozone ZEW Economic Sentiment to Stimulate Euro Changes Tomorrow
This month’s edition of the whole of eurozone ZEW Economic Sentiment survey follows shortly afterwards, with another poor showing almost certain to trigger fresh downside for the single currency.
Many analysts feel that a better than anticipated result from Tuesday afternoon’s US inflation data would be enough to make an American interest rate hike a nailed-on certainty for the next day.
The final event of note tomorrow comes in the form of the latest NZ Dairy Auction; another weak set of results would condemn the Kiwi Dollar to further losses.
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