Forexlive Americas FX news wrap 22 Feb: USD . Stocks mixed. Yields lower. USD higher. | Forexlive

The markets were mixed today as yields moved lower, major stock indices were mixed and the USD was mostly higher. The FOMC meeting minutes today showed that a few members favored a 50 bp hike. The market already knew of Mester and Bullard. A “few” is more than a couple. So there seem to be more lurking.

The market still expects 25 basis points at the next meeting, but with the jobs still strong and inflation sticky, there is room for more upside potential going forward and that is helping to keep the USD elevated.

Looking at the US dollar, the NZD was the strongest of the major currencies, while it’s sister currency, the AUD was the weakest (the AUDNZD fell -0.75%).

The NZD got a boost from the RBNZ rate hike of 50 bps to 4.75%. The central bank is expecting to continuing the tightening process as the cyclone is expected to keep labor tight and prices high or higher. They are still forecasting a terminal rate of 5.5%.

The USD was mostly higher with modest declines only vs the NZD and the JPY. The USD was up the most vs the AUD and the GBP.

Versus the AUD, the AUDUSD fell below the 200 day MA at 0.68037 on its way to a low of 0.6794. The pair has the 38.2% of the move up from the October 2022 cycle low not much lower at 0.67798. The current price is trading at 0.6803 going into the close.

The GBPUSD today, pushed the 200 hour MA at 1.20648 on a number of occasions without finding momentum. Finally, in the last few hours of trading, the sellers finally was able to push lower and take the price to the 100 hour MA at 1.2039 where price action stalled once again.

Despite the stronger dollar today, yields did not help contribute to the rise. Nevertheless, they are ending off the lows for the day