He global dollar managed to rise 0.3% and continues its upward path amid the different decisions of the world’s central banks and consequently the decisions of the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) communicated yesterday; in Uruguay, Meanwhile, the US currency hit its lowest point in 6 months and was cents away from 37 pesos.
The dollar index, which measures the price of the dollar Against a basket of six main currencies, it was quoted at 103.55 units, managing to rise 0.3% after having fallen 0.5% yesterday.
Meanwhile, the futures of S&P 500 US rose 0.3%, pointing to further gains this Thursday, after the benchmark index reached a new all-time high this Wednesday. Earlier, Japan’s Nikkei and Taiwan’s weighted index each rose 2% to record levels.
The influence of the Fed
The president of the United States Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, said on Wednesday that recent high inflation readings had not changed the underlying “story” of a slow easing of price pressures, as the central bank stayed on track for three interest rate cuts this year and said it would Solid economic growth will continue.
Therefore, the Federal Reserve kept rates between 5.25% and 5.5%, as expected, and the market estimated that the Federal Reserve and the central bank European Union would begin to cut rates at its June meetings.
Swiss franc falls
He Swiss franc fell sharply against the dollar this Thursday and hit its lowest level since July against the euro, after the Swiss National Bank unexpectedly cut interest rates, while sterling depreciated ahead of the Bank of England meeting.
The euro rose to 0.978 Swiss francs, its highest since July 2023, and in its last quote it gained 0.7%, to 0.975 units. Against the dollar, the Swiss currency fell 0.9%, to 0.8948 units, after briefly touching its lowest since November.
He Swiss National Bank (SNB) cut its main rate by 25 basis points, to 1.5%, an unexpected measure that made it the first major central bank to reduce the tightening of its monetary policy to tackle inflation. Most analysts surveyed expected the SNB to keep rates at 1.75%. This is the entity’s first cut in nine years.
“It is the first central bank in the developed world to ease its rates, which shows the direction in which the others are going,” he said. Jan Von Gerich, from Nordea. “The SNB has always been the first to move, so it shouldn’t influence what others do, but from a markets point of view, it opens the door to what could happen elsewhere,” he added.
The exchange rate delay continues to plague Uruguay
He dollar fell 1.04% compared to Tuesday and closed at 38,095 pesos, according to data from the Central Bank of Uruguay (BCU), reaching its lowest price in the last 6 months.
With this setback, the US currency operates at levels it has not reached since September 20, 2023, when it was quoted at 38,053 pesos, aggravating the exchange delay and being one step away from returning to the 37 peso range, which has not been touched since that same month.
With this decrease, the banknote has accumulated a pronounced fall of 2.43% so far in March, which is on track to be the one with the greatest depreciation in recent months. Meanwhile, if the end of 2023 is taken, the dollar fell 2.38%.
Source: Ambito
