CEE: US dollar remains the region's nightmare
The second print of first quarter GDP in the Czech Republic will be published today. Besides the GDP breakdown, we will also see the wage bill, which has been mentioned several times by the Czech National Bank as a potential reason for a rate hike in June.
Tomorrow, inflation for May and the details of first quarter GDP in Poland will be published. We expect headline inflation to fall from 14.7% to 13.0% YoY, below market expectations, mainly due to fuel and energy prices. On Thursday, we will see PMI numbers across the region, where we expect a slight deterioration in sentiment across the board.
Later, we will see state budget data in the Czech Republic, which posted its worst-ever result in April, raising questions about additional government bond issuance. The European Parliament is also scheduled to hold a session on Thursday, which is expected to cover the Hungarian EU presidency and is also likely to touch on the topic of EU money and the rule of law.
The FX market, as usual in recent weeks, will be dominated by the global story and the US dollar. So, even this week, CEE FX will not be in a bed of roses. We still see the Polish zloty as the most vulnerable, which despite some weakening in the past week remains near record highs. The market has built up a significant long position in PLN over the past two months.
Plus, we may hear more election noise. Moreover, the significant fall in inflation should push the interest rate differential lower. Thus, we see EUR/PLN around 4.540.
The Czech koruna remains the most sensitive currency in the region against the US dollar, which should be the main driver this week. On the other hand, the reversal in the rate differential has been indicating a reversal in EUR/CZK for a few days now.
Thus, at least a stable EUR/USD could allow the koruna to move toward 23.600. The Hungarian forint can expect a headline attack from the European Parliament this week, and given the current strong levels, we could easily see weaker levels again closer to 375 EUR/HUF.
However, we believe the market will use any spike to build long positions in HUF again.
