- The sterling is little changed following a small gain that held the pair above 1.27 right after the release of UK inflation, which slowed down in line with expectations, but the services gauge came in higher than expected. This move above 1.27 may be short-lived and the markets don’t seem too excited as we have the Bank of England meeting tomorrow and UK general Elections at the beginning of July.
- May CPI dropped to the desired 2% target and estimate YoY, from the previous 2.3% while services CPI stayed “sticky”, only cooling to 5.7% above the 5.5% estimate.
- It is Juneteenth holiday in the US and the US Dollar Index holds above 105 after a group of Federal Reserve officials stressed the need for further evidence that inflation is cooling before reducing borrowing costs.
- Fed Governor Adrian Kugler stated that such move would be appropriate “sometime later this year” and St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem added to his colleague words that it could take “quarters” for the data to support a reduction in interest rates.
- The Euro continues to hold above 1.07 and traded as high as 1.0760 yesterday but quickly reversed and currently trades around 1.0730. The pair found support on these levels after unchanged US Retail Sales data failed to lift the greenback and led to some speculation for more than 1 rate cut this year. The market is short euro in the near term given the Fed continues to hold the view of “higher for longer” and due to the current political instability in France and the next key support can be found near 1.0650.