Forex Today: Dollar soars as Wall Street plunges

Valeria Bednarik FXStreet

What you need to take care of on Thursday, May 19:

The greenback edged higher against its high-yielding rivals but eased against safe-haven currencies, reflecting the dismal market mood.

Inflation was the primary catalyst of the latest bout of risk aversion. The EU Consumer Price Index was confirmed at 7.4% YoY in April, while the UK CPI increased by 9% in the year to April. Finally, the Canadian benchmark hit 6.8%. Overheating price pressures are a drag on economic growth, already undermined by supply-chain issues and the Eastern European crisis.

Two US institutes, Wells Fargo and S&P, downwardly revised growth forecasts but expect inflation to remain high. Wall Street resumed its slump, with the three major indexes sinking in the red. The DJIA is about to close over 1,100 lower, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite are down over 4% each.

The yield on the US 10-year Treasury note stands below 2.90%, as investors rushed into bonds’ safety.

The EUR/USD pair trades around 1.0460, while GBP/USD is now at 1.2340. The AUD/USD pair plunged to 0.6960 while USD/CAD recovered the 1.2800 threshold. On the other hand, the USD/CHF fell to 0.9880 while USD/JPY trades in the 128.20 price zone.

XAUUSD was unable to attract speculative interest, now hovering around $1,816 a troy ounce. Crude oil prices edged lower, with WTI now changing hands at $106.90 a barrel.

Top 3 Price Prediction Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP: Cryptos build momentum for a flash crash

Like this article? Help us with some feedback by answering this survey:

Author

Valeria Bednarik

FXStreet

Valeria Bednarik was born and lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her passion for math and numbers pushed her into studying economics in her younger years.

EUR/USD flirts with daily highs, retargets 1.1900

EUR/USD regains upside traction, returning to the 1.1880 zone and refocusing its attention to the key 1.1900 barrier. The pair’s slight gains comes against the backdrop of a humble decline in the US Dollar as investors continue to assess the latest US CPI readings and the potential Fed’s rate path.

GBP/USD remains well bid around 1.3650

GBP/USD maintains its upside momentum in place, hovering around daily highs near 1.3650 and setting aside part of the recent three-day drop. Cable’s improved sentiment comes on the back of the Greenback’s irresolute price action, while recent hawkish comments from the BoE’s Pill also collaborate with the uptick.

Gold clings to gains just above $5,000/oz

Gold is reclaiming part of the ground lost on Wednesday’s marked decline, as bargain-hunters keep piling up and lifting prices past the key $5,000 per troy ounce. The precious metal’s move higher is also underpinned by the slight pullback in the US Dollar and declining US Treasury yields across the curve.

Crypto Today: Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP in choppy price action, weighed down by falling institutional interest

Bitcoin's upside remains largely constrained amid weak technicals and declining institutional interest. Ethereum trades sideways above $1,900 support with the upside capped below $2,000 amid ETF outflows.

Week ahead – Data blitz, Fed Minutes and RBNZ decision in the spotlight

US GDP and PCE inflation are main highlights, plus the Fed minutes. UK and Japan have busy calendars too with focus on CPI. Flash PMIs for February will also be doing the rounds. RBNZ meets, is unlikely to follow RBA’s hawkish path.

Ripple Price Forecast: XRP potential bottom could be in sight

Ripple edges up above the intraday low of $1.35 at the time of writing on Friday amid mixed price actions across the crypto market. The remittance token failed to hold support at $1.40 the previous day, reflecting risk-off sentiment amid a decline in retail and institutional sentiment.