- The Greenback opens Thanksgiving week in the red at a fresh two-month low.
- Traders are further betting on rate cuts from the biggest central banks.
- The US Dollar Index holds above 103.00, though a sell-off could result into the DXY near 101.00
The US Dollar (USD) is kicking off this festive week in the red while US traders are compiling their wish list for the Black Friday deals ahead of the turkey dinner on Thursday. The US Dollar Index (DXY) has snapped some substantial technical indicators that hold big relevance as support or resistance. With a very light economic calendar this week, not many elements can be pushed forward for a turnaround in the current downturn for the Greenback.
The calendar for this Monday is very light, with just a few bond auctions from the US Treasury. On Tuesday traders will brace for the FOMC Fed Meeting Minutes from their latest rate decision. Before Thursday’s national holiday, the University of Michigan will print its final November data and the week will be closed with the flash S&P Global Purchase Managers Index (PMI) numbers.
Daily digest: Greenback looks for support in US trading session
- Comments from the US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who said that there has been considerable progress in bringing inflation down.
- Geopolitical tensions are flaring up as over the weekend there were rumours over an agreement of a five-day ceasefire, though the US refrained from confirming. Meanwhile, this Monday morning a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz got seized by Iran-backed rebels, Tokyo-based Nippon Yusen KK reported, who chartered the ship.
- The US Treasury will be going to the markets to relocate a few bonds:
- A 3-month bill will be issued at 16:30 GMT.
- A 6-month bill will be issued at 16:30 GMT.
- A 20-year bond auction will take place at 18:00 GMT.
- Overnight, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) issued a much stronger fixing for its Yuan, pushing the Chinese currency substantially stronger against the Greenback by 0.70%.
- Additionally, the Greenback is losing over 1% against the Japanese Yen.
- Equities are looking for direction as the question stands whether a recession will take place before or after central bank interest-rate cuts. The only notable outlier this Monday is the Hang Seng Index, which is up near 2% at the Chinese closing bell. All US futures ahead of the opening bell are flat.
- The CME Group’s FedWatch Tool shows that markets are pricing in a 99.8% chance that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates unchanged at its meeting in December. A small 0.2% believes a cut is due to unfold.
- The benchmark 10-year US Treasury Note yield trades at 4.46%.
US Dollar Index technical analysis: The importance of a daily close
The US Dollar is signalling distress to the markets, accumulating several red lights flashing when gauged by the US Dollar Index (DXY). Both on the daily and the weekly chart, the DXY is snapping several important support areas, which could mean a bigger and broader downtrend for weeks and months to come from a pure technical perspective. Especially the break of the 200-day SImple Moving Average (SMA) on the daily chart, combined with the weekly break below both the 55-day and 100-day SMA, is a worrying sign that the DXY could depreciate even more.
The DXY was unable to bounce off the 100-day SMA and is treading water at the 200-day SMA. Look for the recovery bounce towards the 100-day SMA near 104.20. Should the DXY be able to close and open above it, look for a return to the 55-day SMA near 105.71 with 105.12 ahead of it as resistance.
Traders were warned that when the US Dollar Index would slide below that 55-day SMA, a big air pocket was opening up that could see the DXY fall substantially. The 200-day SMA is trying to keep everything together, though should there be a further decline, the psychological 100-level comes into play. With a very slim economic calendar and several US market participants off the desk for the holidays, there is room for a potential big downturn this week.
Central banks FAQs
Central Banks have a key mandate which is making sure that there is price stability in a country or region. Economies are constantly facing inflation or deflation when prices for certain goods and services are fluctuating. Constant rising prices for the same goods means inflation, constant lowered prices for the same goods means deflation. It is the task of the central bank to keep the demand in line by tweaking its policy rate. For the biggest central banks like the US Federal Reserve (Fed), the European Central Bank (ECB) or the Bank of England (BoE), the mandate is to keep inflation close to 2%.
A central bank has one important tool at its disposal to get inflation higher or lower, and that is by tweaking its benchmark policy rate, commonly known as interest rate. On pre-communicated moments, the central b…
