Strong US Dollar Index Driving EUR/USD Down & USD/JPY Up, economists predict that the Pound will continue to decline (EUR/GBP), USD/JPY

Summary:

• Early trading saw the EUR/USD falling below parity once more.
• The British Pound dropped to its lowest level against the Dollar on Friday and hit lows against the Euro that haven't been seen since February 2021.
• Strong US Dollar index driving USD/JPY down.

EUR/USD falls below parity once more

The market is reflecting bearish signals for this currency pair. Early trading saw the EUR/USD falling below parity once more while failing to surpass Friday's peak. While markets look apprehensive after US President Joe Biden said the US military would defend Taiwan in the case of an invasion by China, we witnessed the USD index open higher and push on, supporting a +/-60 pip loss on EUR/USD and other currency pairs. The downward movement in the EUR/USD rate this morning appears to be driven by the dollar index. Despite numerous investment banks and the World Bank reducing their growth projections for the US economy and issuing a global recession warning, the index kept moving higher.

✕ EUR/USD Price Chart

Economists predict that the Pound will continue to decline.

The market is reflecting mixed signals for this currency pair. Although there is a remote chance the currency would recover by the end of the upcoming week when a Bank of England rate hike and the "mini budget" are announced, economists predict that the Pound will continue to decline. The British Pound dropped to its lowest level against the Dollar on Friday and hit lows against the Euro that haven't been seen since February 2021 before the monetary and fiscal double-header. Following the publication of poor UK retail sales statistics that led economists to warn that the country is already in recession, the pound's losses for 2022 increased. Contrary to estimates, retail sales declined 1.6% in the month of August instead of a somewhat smaller -0.5%.

✕ EUR/GBP Price Chart

USD/JPY

The market is reflecting bearish signals for this currency pair. After failing to break over 145, USD/JPY is still in an ascending trend channel. 144.95 may continue to act as resistance because it is the 161.8% Fibonacci Extension of the late-July decline from 139.39 to 130.39. It has recently been tested, reaching peaks of 144.97 and 144.99, the latter of which is a 24-year high. This region might be crucial for the next significant USD/JPY movement. The Bank of Japan called banks in Tokyo last week as 145 approached, requesting a rate review. The market has interpreted this to mean that the central bank may be considering intervening should the price rise above 145. Of course, if the price trades over that level and they do not act, an aggressive move might be observed. The following potential resistance level to watch could be the ascending trend line that now splits around 145.90.

✕ USD/JPY Price Chart

Sources: finance.yahoo.com, poundsterlinglive.com, dailyfx.com