Market Report : 18.04.2024

Published: 18/04/2024 By ECAP

The British Pound hit a fresh one-month high against the euro and rose versus a weakening U.S. Dollar yesterday after UK inflation data suggested less monetary easing by the BoE. In fact, U.K. inflation rose by an annual 3.2%, its lowest in two and a half years. However, the rate had been expected to drop to 3.1%, and this release served as a reminder that Britain's fight against inflation was not yet won.

The Euro has been on the back foot as investors increased their bets that the European Central Bank would cut interest rates in June. In fact, yesterday, ECB policymaker Joachim Nagel said that a rate cut looks increasingly likely for June even though certain parts of the incoming inflation data still look higher than desired.

The U.S. Dollar fell for the first time in six days yesterday, as investors consolidated gains after Fed officials repeated the interest rate-cutting cycle is on hold pending new economic data. Nevertheless, the near-term outlook for the greenback still remains upbeat, especially as investors were seen scaling back bets that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in June.

Data supplied by GC Partners