Equities in the red, USD bid & GBP lags as Gilts extend gain; Fed’s Powell due

• European bourses post modest losses whilst the NQ & ES teeter around the unchanged mark, RTY lags slightly.
• Bonds extended gains with Gilts outpacing counterparts though ultimately fell short of 96.00 level, with the complex now off best levels & USTs lower.
• USD bid with the index printing a 105.87 high, putting downward pressure on G10 peers; GBP bearing the brunt & largely attributed to outperformance in Gilts.
• Crude continues to crumble but has lifted from lows most recently amid a magnitude 5 earthquake in western Texas
• Looking ahead, highlights include US Wholesale Prices, NBP Policy Announcement; BoC Minutes, Speeches from Fed’s Powell, Williams, Barr & Jefferson; BoE’s Bailey; Supply from US. Earnings: Telecom Italia, Ralph Lauren, Kellogg, Disney, BlackRock, Warner Bros Discovery & Disney.

This article was written by Ryan Paisey at www.forexlive.com.

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The European Central Bank needs to see further progress in
dampening inflationary pressures, and companies along with governments need to
chip in to prevent more policy tightening, ECB policymakers said on Wednesday.

Policymakers speaking at various venues across Europe
appeared keen to cool any euphoria about the rapid fall in prices, arguing that
the overall picture was more mixed. Some policymakers even argued that further
rate hikes should not be taken off the table.

• „You do see some progress (in underlying inflation),
  but not yet enough,“ ECB chief economist Philip Lane said in Riga
• „The ‚last mile‘ before we reach our inflation target
  may well be the hardest,“ Nagel said in London.
• „It is far, far too early in my view to start talking
  about whether we need to start reducing or cutting rates… And also it is too
  early to declare that we have reached the top of the ladder“ of interest
  rate hikes, Makhlouf said in Dublin.

This article was written by Ryan Paisey at www.forexlive.com.

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The Swiss National Bank responded on Wednesday to the U.S. Treasury removing Switzerland from its monitoring list of countries that appeared to be manipulating their currencies.

Switzerland had run into trouble with the U.S. after the SNB’s massive purchase of foreign currencies, designed to weaken the safe haven franc as it surged in value.

The SNB has since changed course, allowing the franc to weaken as a tool to dampen imported inflation.

This article was written by Ryan Paisey at www.forexlive.com.