EURO FORECAST:
- EUR/USD[1] soars on Monday and reaches its best level in nearly four weeks
- Euro[2]’s gains are supported by broad-based U.S. dollar[3] weakness and hawkish ECB commentary
- This article looks at EUR/USD[4] key technical levels to keep an eye on in the near term
Most Read: USD Technical Analysis - DXY Outlook in the Days Ahead[5]
EUR/USD soared at the start of the week, rising about 1.1% to 1.0670, supported by improved market sentiment, broad-based U.S. dollar weakness, but more importantly, hawkish comments from the European Central Bank’s President Christine Lagarde.
In recent months, the institution had maintained a non-committal stance on the timing of the withdrawal of accommodation to retain flexibility and optionality, and avoid locking itself into a pre-defined course that it might later have to abandon. But all this changed today, a sign that record price pressures are causing the central bank to rethink its approach[6].
In a blog post, Lagarde sounded alarm bells on inflation and indicated that net purchases under the APP will endvery early in the third quarter, but this wasn’t all. She also said that the interest rate lift-off will start in July to allow the bank to exit the eight-year experiment with negative borrowing costs by September. This message suggests that there could be at least two 25 basis point hikes between July and September, considering that the deposit rate stands at -0.50%.
Many traders doubted that the ECB would deliver what futures markets had discounted in terms of tightening, but with Monday’s sharp tone turnaround, it appears likely we will see several interest rates increases and even front-loaded adjustments this year. That said, monetary policy repricing that may occur over the next
