The US dollar is losing ground to the other major currencies

The US dollar is losing ground to the other major currencies during early European trading, ahead of the release later in the day of US CPI numbers. The Dollar Index lost approximately a quarter of a percentage point this morning but remains close to a multi-week high, reflecting the wait-and-see attitude of investors ahead of today’s crucial data release. US inflation is expected to remain above the Fed’s 2% target, but to continue to show signs of stabilization. An increasingly larger number of analysts believes that the current hiking cycle has peaked, so the risk in today’s numbers lie on a surprise to the upside. An inflation reading above expectations may raise the spectre of at least one more interest rate hike, in a scenario that would be likely to generate substantial gains for the dollar.

Ricardo Evangelista– Senior analyst, ActivTrades