CAD regains losses, waits on Fed    

Key Movers

After seeing some gains late yesterday, the USD is back to levels like yesterday’s early sessions ahead of the FOMC interest Rate announcement.  The Fed is widely expected to raise rates by 75 basis points again, but it is the press conference at 2:30 EST that may set the tone for market outlooks.  Investors have been looking for a signal from the central bank that the pace of hikes may slow. Any language that is less hawkish than previous from Chair Jerome Powell may act as that indicator.  The only other piece of data today in the US is at 10:30 AM EST with the inventory counts of oil in the system from Cushing, Oklahoma.

Small rallies in both EUR/USD and GBP/USD during the European session saw small but short-lived gains for both the Euro and Pound. All eyes are now on the Federal Reserve Bank announcement this afternoon to see what the future of US rate hikes will look like.

In Asia-Pacific, the CNY saw reasons for gains as rumors began to circulate that China may be on the verge of easing it’s “Covid Zero” policy. This news caused Chinese markets to rally with Hong Kong’s Hang-Seng Index closing up 5.25%.  The New Zealand dollar saw small gains against most majors today after stronger than expected jobs data.  Employment was up 1.3% compared to the previous quarter.