Hawkish Fed bets after strong US data to underpin the Dollar – Commerzbank

Supported by hawkish comments from Fed officials, the US Dollar continued to gather strength against its rivals. Economists at Commerzbank expect the greenback to remain resilient for the time being.

USD remains supported for now

“Cleveland Fed president Loretta Mester stated that she had already seen convincing arguments in favour of a 50 bps rate hike at the January meeting. St. Louis Fed president James Bullard made similar comments. Of course, both these FOMC members (non-voting members this year) are known for their hawkish stance and in view of the aggressive rate hikes over the past quarters a slightly more cautious approach remains plausible to us, in particular since consumer price inflation has fallen recently.”

“If the data from the US should continue to surprise on the upside, it cannot be excluded that other FOMC members might join Mester and Bullard, which is likely to benefit USD.”