The US dollar index moved sharply higher, and stocks lower during the US session after Fed insider Nick Timiraos came out with an article outlining comments from Fed to Logan from this morning where she said, “We aren’t there yet.”
Accordingly, the EURUSD pair tumbled under the 1.0800 support level and sterling fell towards the 1.2400 area on expectations of more rate increases in June.
Timiraos noted that Fed officials suggest that the decision to raise interest rates at the next month’s meeting is a close call, with another policymaker hinting at supporting another increase.
Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan, a key centrist on the Fed’s policy-setting committee, indicates that barring further economic weakness, she might support a quarter percentage point increase in the benchmark federal-funds rate at the June 13-14 meeting.
Federal governor Philip Jefferson also outlines arguments that could justify either holding rates steady or raising them again in June, however, this remains debatable.
Jefferson acknowledges high inflation and insufficient progress in reducing it, but also notes that economic activity is slowing due to the Fed’s rate rises, and he anticipates further cooling this year.
In other news report suggested that Republican House Speak Kevin McCarthy saying he thinks an eventual debt bill needs to be on floor next week.
On the data front Existing home sales in the US which include completed transactions of single-family homes, town homes, condominiums and co-ops, declined 3.4% mom to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.28 million in April of 2023, the lowest in three months, and compared to forecasts of 4.3 million.
Total housing inventory increased 7.2% from March to 1.04 million units, which represents 2.9-month supply at the current sales pace, up from 2.6 months in March.
Also, the median existing-home price for all housing types fell 1.7% from last year to $388,800. Prices rose in the Northeast and Midwest but retreated in the South and West.