EUR halted. Overview for 17.04.2024

The primary currency pair paused its sell-off on Wednesday. The current EURUSD exchange rate stands at 1.0624.

The market has grown weary of selling, particularly as the five-month lows have been updated repeatedly. Monetary policymakers from the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank were quite active yesterday, but the market has already factored in all their comments in the quotes.

Jerome Powell, Chair of the US Federal Reserve, stated yesterday that the regulator hopes to receive more confident data on inflation stabilisation in the future. Investors interpreted his remarks literally, concluding that the Fed is not ready to cut interest rates in June and is shifting forecasts to September.

European Central Bank member Francois Villeroy de Galhau highlighted the ECB's ability to adjust the pace of interest rate cuts if the Middle East conflict has a long-term impact on energy prices. The ECB is expected to make its first interest rate cut after the June meeting. Inflation in the region is confidently heading towards 2%. Market participants expect to see three rate cuts by the end of 2024.

While there is no contradiction between monetary policies, the market's reaction to Powell's remarks is evident: investors are adjusting their strategies in response to the absence of decisive action from the Fed on a global scale.