He dollar was nearing its highest level of the year against a basket of currencies and U.S. stock futures fell on Wednesday ahead of the U.S. monetary policy decision. United States Federal Reserve (Fed)although trading was thin with many European and Asian markets closed.
He euro, For its part, it was trading stable but under pressure at $1.0670, not far from its five-month lows in mid-April, while the pound was trading at $1.2478.
The latest upward movement of the dollar came after labor cost growth in USA during the first quarter was higher than expected, sending Treasury yields higher and causing markets to further reduce bets on Fed rate cuts this year.
It is almost certain that the Fed will keep its interest rate steady on Wednesday, but the monetary policy statement issued in the afternoon and Chairman Jerome Powell’s press conference a half hour later should provide an idea of to what extent – if at all – the data from The last three months have affected the likelihood that borrowing costs will fall soon.
The other currencies
The reference performance of Treasure The 10-year was trading at 4.657%, just below the mid-April high of 4.739%, its highest level in five months, after rising 7 basis points (bps) the previous day.
The European markets fixed income markets remained closed for the May 1 holiday, as did most of the European stock markets and those of China, Hong Kong and much of Asia.
The futures of S&P 500 American fell 0.4%, and Nasdaq futures lost 0.65%, as chip stocks led the losses after less than encouraging results.
Of the stock markets that were listed, the British FTSE rose a little, staying close to its last intraday historical high reached the day before, and the Japanese Nikkei fell 0.34%.
The other focus of attention in the currency markets is the Japanese yen. On Monday, the currency fell to 160 per dollar, its lowest level since 1990, before strengthening several times to 154.4 per dollar, with traders pointing to likely official intervention.
For his part, the Brent fell 1.2%, to $85.27 a barrel. US crude oil fell 1.4% to $80.73. Meanwhile, gold rose 0.5% to $2,296.4 an ounce, but was down 5.5% from its all-time high in mid-April, affected by easing tensions in the Middle East.
The dollar in Uruguay, with hopes of rise in May
While on May 1 the Uruguayan markets did not open due to the May 1 holiday, on the last day of April, the currency managed to rise 0.05%, closing at 38.318 pesos, according to the official price of the Central Bank of Uruguay (BCU), scoring its second consecutive rise and entering the range of 38 pesos.
The North American currency accumulated a monthly increase of 2.04% throughout April, although it has an accumulated depreciation of 1.80% at an annual level, after falling 0.70 pesos since the last exchange day of the year 2023.
Source: Ambito
