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BoE’s Haskel: Important to lean against risks of inflation momentum
In an article penned for The Scotsman newspaper, BoE Monetary Policy Committee member Jonathan Haskel signaled the potential for further increases in interest rates, citing persistent inflation concerns.
Haskel highlighted an improvement in UK's inflation outlook, observing, "Things look better than a few months ago. Since October last year, inflation has fallen from 11.1 per cent to 8.7 per cent, and we expect it to be around 5 per cent by the end of this year."
However, he expressed concern that "inflation remains much too high," reaffirming the MPC's commitment to achieving its 2% target. "Our tool for doing this is interest rates," he added.
"My own view is that it's important we continue to lean against the risks of inflation momentum, and therefore that further increases in interest rates cannot be ruled out," he said.
Haskel addressed the often-asked question of how increasing interest rates can help when inflation is driven by the prices of essential goods like energy and food, largely determined at a global level.
He clarified, "The aim of higher interest rates is not to affect the prices of these goods directly. Instead, it is to ensure the resulting inflation does not become embedded in the economy and prices do not continue to increase at the rates we've seen recently."
Gold Extends Sideways Move Below 2,000
Gold experienced a mild pullback after peaking at the all-time high of 2,079 in early May, falling beneath its 2,000 psychological mark and the 50-day simple moving average (SMA). Although bullion managed to halt its retreat at the 2½-month low of 1,932, it has been trading sideways for the past three weeks.
The momentum indicators currently suggest that bearish forces are subsiding. Specifically, the MACD jumped above its red signal line but remains in negative territory, while the stochastic oscillator is ticking upwards after posting a bullish cross.
Should buying pressures intensify, the bulls could attack 1,985, which is the upper end of the recent rangebound pattern. A violation of that zone could set the stage for the 2,000 psychological mark before 2,048 comes under examination. Failing to halt there, the price could ascend to test its record high of 2,079.
On the flipside, if the short-term weakness persists, the price could initially challenge the 2½-month low of 1,932. Should that floor collapse, the spotlight could turn to 1,885 before the 2023 bottom of 1,804 gets tested. A break below the latter could trigger a retreat towards the 1,774 hurdle.
Overall, gold has been directionless in the past three weeks, but the short-term oscillators are slowly tilting towards the bullish side. Therefore, a break above the 50-day SMA is needed to put an end to the recent downside correction.
EURCHF Downside Breakout Might Not Have Legs
EURCHF is hovering around the 0.9706 level, a tad below the rectangle that has been dominating the price action since October 13, 2022. However, as the price move following the recent bearish breakout has been very weak, there are increased chances of a rebound back inside the rectangle. That would potentially be significant from a short-term momentum perspective.
With the Average Directional Movement Index (ADX) stuck below its 25-threshold and signaling an entirely range-trading market, the focus turns to the stochastic oscillator for some sort of guidance. Interestingly, this indicator appears to bounce off its moving average, a potential bullish signal.
Should the bulls decide to push the market higher, they would have to overcome the 0.9706 level set by the November 14, 2022 low. The path then looks trickier as the various simple moving averages (SMAs) occupy the 0.9777-0.9855 area along with the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement of the June 9, 2022 – September 26, 2022 downtrend.
On the other hand, the bears are keen on staging a proper move lower to negate any thoughts of a false breakout. The first test comes at the 0.9650-0.9665 area defined by the January 15, 2015 low and the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement respectively. Even lower, the next key resistance might come at the 0.9403 area.
To sum up, the much-expected bearish EURCHF breakout has not delivered a sizeable correction, increasing the chances for a strong upleg.
GBPCAD Forecasting The Path & Selling The Rallies At The Blue Box
Hello traders. In this technical article we’re going to take a look at the Elliott Wave charts charts of GBPCAD published in members area of the website. Recently the pair made short term recovery against the 1.6931 peak that has reached the extreme zone. It made clear 3 waves up from the lows and made decline from our Blue Box ( selling zone) . In further text we’re going to explain the Elliott Wave pattern and trading setup
GBPCAD 1h Hour Asia Elliott Wave Analysis 06.07.2023
GBPCAD is giving us short term red recovery against the 1.6931 high. Correction is unfolding as Elliott Wave Zig Zag Pattern with (a)(b)(c) blue inner labeling. So far rally from the lows looks like 5 waves, so we expect to see another 5 waves up in (c) blue leg. Target area is marked as a Blue Box : 1.6729-1.6792 on the chart and that is our selling zone. At the marked area buyers should be ideally taking profits and sellers can appear again. Consequently , we expect to see reaction from that zone. The pair can make either decline toward new lows or larger 3 waves pull back at least. Once pull back reaches 50 Fibs against the (b) blue low, we will make short position risk free ( put SL at BE) and take partial profits. Break of 1.618 fib extension: 1.6792 would invalidated the trade.
Reminder on how to trade EWF Charts :
Red bearish stamp+ blue box = Selling Setup
Green bullish stamp+ blue box = Buying Setup
Charts with Black stamps are not tradable. 🚫
GBPCAD 1h Hour New York Midday Elliott Wave Analysis 06.07.2023
The pair found sellers right at the blue box and made decline from there toward new lows. At this stage we see the pair remains bearish against the 1.6931 pivot. Decline from the peak looks to be unfolding as 5 waves. As far as the price holds below 1.6733 level, short term recovery ((b)) can be done there. Otherwise, if we get strong reaction to the upside and 1.6733 peak gives up, then the pair could make irregular Flat pattern against the 1.69313 peak. Anyway, members who took short trades have made positions risk free. They have Put Stop Loss at entry level and took partial profits.
GBPCAD 1h Hour Weekend Elliott Wave Analysis 06.11.2023
The pair has taken alternative path. It made sharp rally and broke the previous high. We assume correction against the 1.6931 high is still in progress as potential Elliott Wave Flat pattern. Keep in mind there is no Blue Box on the chart at the moment, so don’t like forcing the trades at the current levels. When looking for a trade, corrections against the trend should be Double Three or Zigzag, that can give us clear entries and invalidation levels. We avoid Triple Threes and especially Flat structures for trading purpose as they are tricky to trade.
As you can notice, trading is not about being right all the time. We don’t make the market and our forecasts don’t have 100% accuracy. However we do have a system which allows us to get out Risk Free + cash partial profit from the trade, even if primary analysis gets wrong.
USD/CAD: The Price is Expected to Rise in a Minute Impulse
In the global perspective, USDCAD may build a global triple zigzag w-x-y-x-z.
The current chart shows the final actionary wave z of the cycle degree. Apparently, it takes the form of a primary double zigzag Ⓦ-Ⓧ-Ⓨ, where the sub-waves Ⓦ-Ⓧ are completed.
Now we see the development of the primary wave Ⓨ, more precisely, its final part – intermediate wave (Y). It is assumed that the wave (Y) to be completed in the form of minute zigzag ⓐ-ⓑ-ⓒ near 1.392.
In the second scenario, we may see the construction of a bearish double zigzag Ⓦ-Ⓧ-Ⓨ.
As part of the primary pattern, the waves Ⓦ-Ⓧ are completed, so a continuation of the bearish primary wave Ⓨ is possible.
The primary wave Ⓨ, taking the form of a minor double zigzag, may end at the minimum of the wave Ⓦ, near 1.309.
At the specified level, the intermediate waves (W) and (Y) will be equal to each other.
CAD Probes Key Resistance
USD/CAD struggles to bounce
The Canadian dollar rallied after May’s unemployment rate came out lower than expected. The major floor of 1.3310 from the daily chart has attracted some bargain hunters but may not be enough to turn the cautious mood around. A bearish breakout would force buyers to bail out and trigger a correction towards last September’s lows near 1.3000, putting a dent to the bullish bias in the medium-term. 1.3400 is a fresh resistance and 1.3500 is a key obstacle to lift before the US dollar could make a sustained comeback.
EUR/GBP breaks critical floor
The pound rallied with the prospect of more rate hikes from the BoE amid sticky inflation. The price cut through last December’s low of 0.8560 after it struggled to preserve gains from the past few months. A lack of buying interests left the door open for momentum selling and triggered a new round of sell-off. 0.8500 is the next stop with an oversold RSI likely to attract some dip buyers. However, as sentiment turned wary, the bears may sell into strength at the first resistance of 0.8590. 0.8630 on the 20-day SMA is a strong hurdle.
FTSE 100 seeks support
The FTSE 100 slipped as stresses in the housing sector dented investors’ risk appetite. The rebound came under pressure at the confluence of the brief swing high of 7650 and the 20-day SMA which acts like a dynamic resistance in the current corrective path. A bullish breakout would prompt sellers to cover and ease the downward pressure, paving the way for a recovery to the previous consolidation area around 7800. Failing that, the demand zone 7440-7500 is an important level to prevent a broader liquidation.
There’s a Tail Risk Scenario to See Last-Minute Change of Heart at Fed
Markets
Sign of the times. Last week’s surprising hawkish 25 bps rate hikes by the Reserve Bank of Australian and by the Bank of Canada upped the ante going into this week’s monetary policy meetings by the Fed and by the ECB. The RBA and the BoC both paused their policy normalization cycles earlier this year, only to conclude that their efforts proved to be insufficient still. As the BoC put it the most clearly: “monetary policy was just not sufficiently restrictive to bring supply and demand back into balance and return inflation sustainably to the 2% target.”
Their decisions helped shape expectations for the Fed’s June & July policy decision. The market is on the skip and hike scenario put forward by several heavyweight Fed governors, discounting a 1/3 probability of a hike this week, while it is fully discounted by July. With June CPI figures (tomorrow) still to be released and with a large minority already in favour of continuing the tightening cycle, there’s a tail risk scenario to see a last-minute change of heart at the Fed nonetheless. We’ve seen the same thing happening early in the normalization cycle when eco data in the week running up to the meeting overturned guidance to hike by 50 bps to conduct a 75 bps hike instead. The Fed decision will be flanked by a new Summary of Economic Projections including an updated dot plot which will show a higher peak rate than in March (5-5.25%) and possibly also a higher policy rate level for end 2024 (current median 4.25%). Reasons include ongoing tightness in the labour market, economic resilience, an already bottoming out housing market, a retightening of financial conditions as the impact of the regional bank crisis petered out and (core) inflation stalling at elevated levels.
The ECB on Thursday is expected to deliver on its May promise of more tightening. A 25 bps rate hike is discounted. Lagarde at the previous meeting namedropped June, July and even September meetings for more action to achieve a timely return of inflation to the 2% target. At the press conference, she might remain tightlipped though when it comes to the future. She’ll stress that the ECB’s complete halt of reinvestments under the APP programme will kick in next week. Over the next 12 months, this suggests that an additional €160bn of liquidity will pulled from the market. These amounts will gain traction in coming years given the way the €3200bn APP portfolio was built mainly during 2016-2018 (average maturity of APP portfolio rapidly declining). Their impact at first will likely be seen via swap spreads vs govies rather than be outright felt in yield levels. Finally, the ECB will likely want to see the impact of the big TLTRO repayment at the end of June (€476.8bn).
The People Bank of China and Bank of Japan are on duty as well this week. A status quo is expected for both, with last Friday’s stories suggesting that the BoJ is in no rush to further increase the tolerance band around the 0% YCC target for the 10y yield. Risks to the PBOC outcome are on the easing side as the Chinese central bank might start cutting to pull borrowing costs lower and give a helping hand to the economy.
News and views
In an interview with the Hospodarske Noviny newspaper, Member of the Czech National Bank MPC Holub said that while raising rates further now would be too late curb price pressures in the first half of next year, it still will have a signaling effect helping to anchor inflation expectations and prevent a wage-price spiral. At the same time, he indicated that the CNB might be able to start with gradual and probably cautious rate cuts in the first half of next year unless a wage-price inflation spiral was to develop at that time. Holub is a hawkish member of the MPC. However, at the previous meeting he was joined by two other members in a close 4-3 vote to leave the policy rate unchanged at 7%. The next CNB meeting is scheduled on June 21. Czech inflation in April slowed to 12.7%. Y/Y. May CPI inflation will be published later today.
A Busy Week for Central Banks
Sentiment is cautiously bullish into the next US CPI figure, due tomorrow, and the next FOMC decision due Wednesday.
Inflation in the US is expected to have eased from 4.9% to 4.1% in May, and core inflation is seen slower at 5.3%, versus 5.5% printed a month earlier. If there is no major surprise on the inflation data front, the Federal Reserve (Fed) should keep the interest rates unchanged at this week’s policy meeting. Activity in Fed funds futures currently gives more than 73% chance for a no rate hike for this Wednesday. But that doesn’t mean that the Fed is done hiking. Whatever pause we might see this week will come with a hawkish accompanying statement, and a threat that the Fed could resume its rate hikes next meeting.
Investors are flocking into call options because no one wants to miss a further rally in stock markets, but no one is sure that the rally will continue given the fact that the Fed has hiked rates at a record speed since last year, leading to the failure of a couple of US regional banks on the way. The earnings expectations for this year are comfortably negative, and the strongly inverted US 2-10-yield curve hints that recession is certainly not far. So yes, it’s good to think of protection, when economic fundamentals don’t necessarily support a further rally, especially when the rally is shouldered by tech stocks, who are, in theory, sensitive to changes in interest rates.
Across the Atlantic Ocean, the European Central Bank (ECB) is expected to hike its interest rates by 25bp when it meets on Thursday, while the Bank of Japan (BoJ) is expected to keep its policy rate at the negative territory despite the rising inflation.
The USDJPY remains bid into the 140 level, with the possibility of a further retreat toward the 200-DMA, which stands near the 137 mark. But that possibility is very much dependent on where the USD will be headed after the inflation report and the Fed decision. The dollar index slipped below past month’s bullish trend and is preparing to return to its 100-DMA. A surprise inflation uptick, and/or a hawkish Fed pause are the major upside risks to the dollar’s downside correction this week. If that’s the case, we could see the USJDPY jump back above 140 easily, though the upside potential will likely remain limited above this level. The EURUSD on the other hand has a better chance to temper a potential rise in USD demand, as the ECB will likely sound and act hawkish despite the waning inflation and slowing demand.
In commodities, crude oil slips below the $70pb at the start of the week. Goldman dropped its forecast for Brent crude by almost $10 to $86pb for December pointing at recession fears a supply increases from nations facing sanctions like Russia, Iran and Venezuela. But the US driving season and the Mid-East boiling hot months will likely bolster demand, while the US will still have to fill in its oil reserves at levels below $70pb, which will likely throw a floor under US crude selloff near $65pb.
Major Central Bank Week
Market movers today
It is major central bank week. On Wednesday, we expect the first unchanged decision from the Fed since January 2022, but it is not a done deal and markets are pricing a chance of another 25bp hike. An ECB hike of 25bp on Thursday is fully expected as well as a decision to end APP reinvestments, but we will get new staff projections and policy signals. We do expect Bank of Japan to tighten policy by easing its yield curve control during this year, but the meeting on Friday is likely too soon.
There are no major data releases from the large economies planned for today. In Denmark, we expect a sharp decline in inflation from 5.3% y/y in April to 3.0% y/y in May, mostly driven by electricity prices, see more below.
Through the remainder of the week, US CPI figures released tomorrow will be key information ahead of the FOMC meeting.
The 60 second overview
Trade: The global trade bellwether, South Korea, saw some improvement in exports in the first ten days of June, with an annual increase of 1.2%, for the first increase since February. Car and ship exports were the main drivers, whereas semiconductor sales continue on a weak note, with a 31% annual decline. US and EU shipments improved whereas sales to China continues to look fairly weak.
The Russian central bank kept rates unchanged at a meeting Friday and delivered a hawkish message as it considered hiking rates by 25-75bps. Consumer prices have shown signs of further acceleration recently after it slowed this year from a 20-year high in 2022. Russia is running a large public deficit, which could require tighter monetary policy, see Reuters.
Equities: Global equities marginally higher Friday in a quiet session where Japan stood out on the strong side while European stocks were lower. This is the trend we have seen for a couple of months, and we expect to continue as long as the macro momentum in Japan is so much stronger than in Europe. On the sector side, cyclicals/growth, consumer discretionary and tech led the gains while defensives were lower. In US equities mostly higher though with small caps lower: Dow +0.1%, S&P 500 +0.1%, Nasdaq +0.2% and Russell 2000 -0.8%. We see limited gains this morning in Asian and European futures ahead of the flood of monetary decisions that will dominate the week ahead of us.
FI: 10Y Global bond yields closed more or less unchanged on Friday, but the curves flattened as shown by the 2-10Y slope of both US Treasury curve and the German yield curve, that both flattened from the short-end although we are getting closer to the end of the hiking cycle of both Federal Reserve and ECB.
FX: The end to last week's session was not least characterised by NOK strength following much-stronger-than-expected Norwegian inflation sending EUR/NOK below 11.60. Otherwise EUR/USD erased part of Thursday's gains with the cross moving back to 1.0750 while EUR/GBP continues to set new lows (now at 0.8550).
Credit: Credit spreads barely moved on Friday where iTraxx Xover tightened 1.4bp (closing in 408bp) and Main tightened 0.1bp to close in 77bp.
Nordic macro
In Denmark, we get May inflation figures. We expect a very big decline in CPI inflation in May to 3.0% from 5.3% in April. Energy prices will be the key driver, as we are looking for a big decline in electricity prices. Also fuel prices have declined in May and German food prices suggest that also Danish prices have slowed. If we are right, this highly challenges our 5.1% headline inflation forecast for this year. With the May figures, Statistics Denmark registers a quarterly rent increase, which will be highly interesting as it also sets the tone for what we can expect of rents over the coming year.
EUR/USD Bulls Eye Recovery Toward 1.0850
Key Highlights
- EUR/USD started an upside correction above the 1.0720 resistance.
- A key rising channel is forming with support near 1.0710 on the 4-hour chart.
- GBP/USD is consolidating gains near the 1.2550 zone.
- USD/JPY is holding gains above the 138.50 support.
EUR/USD Technical Analysis
The Euro started an upside correction from the 1.0640 zone against the US Dollar. EUR/USD was able to clear the 1.0720 resistance to start a recovery wave.
Looking at the 4-hour chart, the pair was able to climb above the 1.0750 resistance and the 100 simple moving average (red, 4 hours). However, the bears were active near the 1.0785 zone. A high is formed near 1.0787 and the pair is now moving lower.
Immediate support is near the 1.0715 level. The next major support is near the 1.0710 level. There is also a key rising channel forming with support near 1.0710 on the same chart.
If there is a downside break below the 1.0710 support, the pair could decline toward the 1.0640 support. Any more losses might send EUR/USD toward 1.0600.
If there is a fresh increase, the pair could face resistance near 1.0780. The first major resistance is near the 1.0820 level. If there is a move above the 1.0820 resistance, the pair could drift toward 1.0880.
Looking at GBP/USD, the pair is showing a lot of positive signs but there might be a downside correction toward the 1.2500 level.
Economic Releases
- US Monthly Budget Statement for May 2023.











