The US dollar continued to struggle this week as equity markets extended their rebound and commodity prices also rallied: the currencies of commodity exporters and other economies most exposed to global growth generally fared well. Wednesday’s lower-than-expected US CPI data provided the latest catalyst: the S&P 500 rose around 2% following the CPI report, and the DXY index registered one of its worst days in recent years, falling by more than 1%. Nonetheless, further hawkish comments from FOMC members, weak credit data out of China and today’s strong US consumer confidence survey have provided some support for the greenback. Our sense remains that the dollar rally will resume before too long. It will take a lot more good news on inflation before the Fed changes tack. The minutes from the last FOMC meeting, released next week, and the Jackson Hole conference the week after may well push back further against the notion that the Fed is “pivoting”.
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