Investing.com – The US greenback has been on a tear since its late-September 2024 lows, and UBS thinks this near-term energy is more likely to persist within the first half of the brand new yr, with room to overshoot.
At 06:15 ET (11:15 GMT), the Greenback Index, which tracks the buck in opposition to a basket of six different currencies, traded 0.5% decrease, however has gained nearly 4% over the course of the final yr.
Higher incoming US knowledge (nonfarm payrolls and buying managers’ index)—and with it, US yields shifting greater—have offered broad greenback assist, analysts at UBS mentioned, in a observe.
Financial information elsewhere has been fairly blended, with development prospects for Europe staying extremely subdued. Accelerating development in China suggests that there’s development exterior the US. However with US tariff dangers looming giant, stronger exercise in China is unlikely to shift investor sentiment and stall the USD rally, in our view.
Within the close to time period, there appear to be restricted headwinds holding the USD again, the Swiss financial institution added.
“US exceptionalism has appeared to reassert itself, with US financial knowledge more likely to keep sturdy within the close to time period and dangers to US inflation shifting greater once more. The newest development and inflation dynamics have lifted US development and inflation expectations, which might permit the Fed to remain on maintain in 2025.”
At the very least within the brief run markets are more likely to suppose this manner, whereas different key central banks are more likely to minimize charges additional.
The potential for financial coverage divergence is a robust driver, which results in trending FX markets and the potential for overshooting alternate charges.
US tariffs are additionally looming giant, weighing on sentiment. The priority on tariffs is that they may have inflationary penalties. Given inflation scarring continues to be recent on buyers’ minds, it’s dominating market narratives.
“That mentioned, we predict {that a} coverage charge of 4-4.5% within the US stays restrictive and is a headwind to financial development and inflation. That is unlikely to vary absent arduous proof that productiveness is rising within the US, which can occur given developments in AI and related funding,” the Swiss financial institution added.
It seems that the market-unfriendly elements of the brand new Trump agenda (e.g., tariffs, commerce tensions, immigration) are simpler to implement and extra more likely to occur earlier than the market-friendly elements (e.g., tax cuts, deregulation).
“We expect a destructive influence on US development just isn’t priced in any respect within the foreign exchange market, which can’t be mentioned for the remainder of the world, notably Europe,” UBS mentioned.
“Therefore, we nonetheless suppose that 2025 might be a narrative of two halves—energy in 1H, and partial or full reversal in 2H. The truth that the USD is buying and selling at multi-decade highs in strongly overvalued territory and that investor positioning (like speculative accounts within the futures market) is elevated underpin this narrative.”
