BoE: Looking for a 75 bps rate hike next week – Rabobank

 Next week, the Bank of England will have its monetary policy committee meeting. Analysts at Rabobank look for a 75 basis points rate hike to 3.00% from 2.25%. They explain that it would still be the largest rate hike of this cycle. They expect to see rates peaking at 4.75%.

Key Quotes: 

“After the mini-Budget disaster of late-September, we shifted our call for the November MPC from +50 to +100 bps. We have dialled back our forecast to +75 bps, as most of the political and financial market upheaval has subsided. This is also the consensus among economists.”

“The central bank needs to show markets that it is cognizant that confidence in the UK’s institutional framework has been damaged, but there is no need for crisis management anymore. Still, a 75 bps hike would still be Britain’s largest of this cycle. We think it will also be a one-off, allowing the central bank to move back to a more gradual pace of 50 bps and then 25 bps rate increases this winter.”

“While inflation should remain around 10% in upcoming months, the outlook for growth has weakened markedly. Even as the August Monetary Policy Report was already sombre, forecasting a fifteen-month recession, we expect more of this gloominess rather than less.”

Gold Price Forecast: XAU/USD plunges to new two-year-lows below $1640

 

• Gold price tanked to new two-and-half years low at $1638.90.
• Global S&P PMIs revealed in the EU, UK, and the US sparked investors’ recession fears, increasing appetite for the safe-haven US dollar.
• Gold Price Analysis: A break below $1638 to send XAU/USD towards $1600.
• 
  
  
  

Gold price slides to fresh two-and-half-year lows dampened by a risk-off mood and flows towards the US dollar, which rose to new two-decade highs. Overall, US dollar strength and higher US Treasury bond yields are two reasons for the fall in the precious metals complex, mainly the yellow metal. At the time of writing, XAU/USD is trading at $1643.50 a troy ounce.

US equities dropped as Wall Street closed with hefty losses between 1.62% and 1.80% on Friday. The US 10-year benchmark note rate retraced from yielding 3.829% and is set to end the week below the 3.70% threshold. On the same note, the US 10-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) bond yield weighed on the non-yielding metal, set to finish at 1.33%.

Nervous calm as dollar prepares for inflation test

 

Major currencies held steady on Wednesday, with traders cautious about placing large bets ahead of U.S. inflation data, which markets will scrutinise for guidance on how steeply the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in coming months.

The figures are due at 1230 GMT. Economists expect year-on-year headline inflation to be running at a scorching 8.7%, a small retreat from June's whopping 9.1% figure. Core inflation is expected at 0.5% month-on-month.

The greenback was broadly steady, having paused a bit from a retreat that began in the middle of July.

It bought 135 Japanese yen and sat at $1.0215 per euro and $1.2089 versus sterling, all little changed on the day and largely unchanged since the start of this week.

"All eyes are on U.S. CPI," said Carol Kong, a currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia (OTC:CMWAY).

"Currencies have been quiet this week, and barring a major news event we don't expect the dollar to move out its range before the data."

Traders expect reaction to turn on the core inflation figure.

"The market will initially get more excited by a downside core CPI surprise than an upside surprise," said Deutsche Bank (ETR:DBKGn) strategist Alan Ruskin. A downward surprise would feed into hopes that falling commodity prices mean inflation can quickly recede.

"It will also play to the market's recent proclivity to buy risk dips, and will be a broad-based negative for the U.S. dollar,

📕 Comment on Gold on May 9, 2022:

 

📕 Comment on Gold on May 9, 2022:

 - On Friday, the US released Nonfarm payrolls data, this data was better than market expectations but only caused Gold to decline slightly to 1875. Gold then bounced up to close the daily candle equal to 1875.  The bullish candle is around 1882. This also makes the last candle close with a bearish candle, but retreated quite long.

 - My personal view at the beginning of this week's trading session is that Gold will continue to gain momentum.  The closest support area for this precious metal is around 1873-1877.  Here we can establish a long position with a safe target around 1883 -1888.

When is the US monthly jobs report (NFP) and how could it affect EUR/USD?

 

US monthly jobs report overview

Friday's US economic docket highlights the release of the closely-watched US monthly jobs data. The popularly known NFP report is scheduled for release at 12:30 GMT and is expected to show that the economy added 490K new jobs in March, down from the 678K reported in the previous month. The unemployment rate is expected to edge lower to 3.7% from 3.8% in February. Apart from this, investors will take cues from Average Hourly Earnings amid expectations for a more aggressive policy response to contain high inflation. 

As Joseph Trevisani, Senior Analyst at FXStreet, explains: “It is becoming clear that the reconstitution of the labor market is not enough to prevent inflation from crippling the economic recovery. The crucial factor is consumer spending. About two-thirds of US economic activity can be directly traced to personal expenditures. The availability of jobs and the ability of workers to seek higher wages are the main supports for consumer spending.”

GBP/USD Price Analysis: Seems vulnerable near 1.3100 mark, bearish flag breakdown in play

The GBP/USD pair extended last week's retracement slide from the 1.3300 mark, or the 200-period EMA on the 4-hour chart and witnessed some follow-through selling on Monday. This marked the fourth successive day of a negative move and dragged spot prices to over a one-week low, around the 1.3110 region during the mid-European session.

The US dollar continued drawing support from rising bets for a 50 bps Fed rate hike move at the May meeting. Conversely, the sterling was weighed down by dovish remarks from the Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, saying that we are starting to see evidence of a growth slowdown. This, in turn, exerted downward pressure on the GBP/USD pair.

 Looking at the broader picture, the pair on Friday confirmed a break through an ascending trend channel, which constituted the formation of a bearish flag pattern. Sustained weakness below the 1.3100 round-figure mark will further validate the bearish bias and set the stage for a further near-term depreciating move for the GBP/USD pair.

The next relevant support is pegged near the 1.3070 region, below which the downward trajectory could further get extended towards the 1.3035 intermediate support. The GBP/USD pair could eventually drop back to challenge the key 1.3000 psychological mark, or the lowest level since November 2020 touched earlier this month.

On the flip side, attempted recovery moves might now confront stiff resistance near the 1.3150-1.3160 region. Any subsequent move up is more likely to attract fresh selling and remain capped near the 1.3180-1.3185 zone. This is closely followed by the 1.3200 mark, which if cleared decisively might prompt some short-covering around the GBP/USD pair.

GBP/USD 4-hour chart

Euro sinks to multi-year lows versus dollar, Swiss franc and sterling

The euro fell to a seven-year low versus the Swiss franc and hit its lowest point in almost two years versus the dollar on Friday as the war in Ukraine lowered expectations of European economic growth.

The European single currency fell 2.1% this week, and was set for its worst week since April 2020.

It was down 0.5% to $1.1010 at 0850 GMT, near its weakest level since May 2020, following news Russian forces seized the largest nuclear power plant in Europe after a building at the complex was set ablaze during fighting with Ukrainian defenders, Ukrainian authorities said on Friday.

Authorities later said the fire in a building identified as a training centre had been extinguished. U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said there were no indication of elevated radiation levels at the plant.

Versus sterling, the euro also hit its weakest level of 82.61 pence since July 2016. It touched its lowest level since January 2015 of 1.0114 against the safe-haven Swiss Franc.

Analyst said the effects of surging energy and gas prices will likely undermine European consumption and economic growth prospects.

"The ECB is going to have no alternative but to look through this surge in inflation but the Fed is not going to delay so we will see more monetary divergence again," said Mike Kelly, head of global multi-asset at PineBridge Investments.

"The dollar should be getting a new spring in its step structurally if things do get worse," Kelly added.

The U.S. dollar index rose 0.36% to 98.073, after touching its highest level since June 2020 against a basket of peers.

While money markets do not expect interest rate hikes at the ECB's next meeting, the U.S. Federal Reserve is all but certain to raise interest rates at its March 15-16 meeting for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell repeated his comments that he would back an initial quarter percentage point increase in the benchmark rate.

In Ukraine, Russian forces were pressing on with surrounding and attacking cities.

Elsewhere, the Australian dollar continued its advance, helped by the commodities boom, and rose 0.6% to a four-month high of $0.7370 versus the U.S. dollar.

High energy prices in turn have prevented the Japanese yen from benefiting as much from the safe haven flows, as Japan is a net importer of energy.

The yen briefly climbed on the dollar when news of the fire emerged, but later gave up those gains and was little changed at 115.37 per dollar.

USD & JPY Goes up & Down

The USDJPY has seen more up and down price action today continuing the price action seen on Friday. The pair did move below the low from Friday's trade, but found support near the low from January 14 at 113.474. It dipped briefly below the level to a low of 113.464, but quickly rebounded.

The subsequent move back higher saw the pair move into a topside swing area between 113.954 and 114.028 

 Sellers leaned against that area and pushed the price back down toward another swing area between 113.596 and 113.629. The price has been able to stay above that area. A break below is needed to solicit more selling with the lows near 113.47 as the next major target (obviously). Conversely, stay above the lower swing area (green numbered circles) and a rotation back toward the red numbered circles, would be the next target.

The USD and the JPY can both be safe haven currencies. That dynamic can neutralize the price action for this pair during volatile bearish price action in the US stock market. That is what we are seeing in the up and down price action over the last two days. Until it gets out of this bearish bias, we can expect more of the same going forward.

Forex Advice Club have the fastest team of FX analysts anywhere. Instantly knowing what headlines and levels matter

📕 Comment on Gold on November 8, 2021

In the last trading session of the last week, precious metal Gold has gained quite strongly as analyzed, closing the week with a strong bullish candle around the threshold of 1818. With the closing of the week with a full-strength bullish candle.  At this point, my personal opinion at the beginning of this new week's trading session is to prioritize buying options.

 - Switching to the daily chart, we can also see that the buying pressure of the last 2 days is quite strong and in the support zone, the nearest precious metal can be found around 1804-1808.  If the precious metal in the beginning of today's trading session can correct slightly, the upper price zone is a good price zone for us to establish a buy position on the precious metal Gold with my expected target is  around the threshold of 1825-1830.

Register Now: https://forms.gle/hpwZr5c85T55kPNG7

📕 Comment on Gold on October 28, 2021

 Ending yesterday's session, precious metal Gold had 1 day of gain as analyzed when from 1783 to 1799, closing the day around the threshold of 1796. Although closing the session with a bullish candle, look at it.  Overall yesterday Gold ran in two directions and has not yet broken the psychological resistance around 1800.

Switching to the H4 time frame we can see that after many tests of 1784 the price bounced up quickly to the resistance around 1800. Currently, the above two price zones are still holding and showing no signs of breaking.  My personal opinion is that at the beginning of today's trading session we can trade within this range and wait for the signal to break for the next trend.

Register Now: https://forms.gle/hpwZr5c85T55kPNG7