Greenback Gets Support from Powell: Market Review, July 18, 2018

The EUR/USD is still going into decline. The sellers got active, as the US dollar was supported by good fundamentals and confident commentary by the Fed Governor Jerome Powell. The pair is currently trading at $1.1630.

On Tuesday evening, Powell said the stable inflation trend and a rather high economic growth rate would allow the Fed to continue their rate hike policy. At the same time, Powell did not go ahead to say the Fed was ready to make 4 hikes instead of 3 this year. Powell did not comment on it in any way, which is quite strange for him, but the investors did not pay a lot of attention to this, as the news on good economic conditions was well enough for the market to get positive.

Most fundamentals were a good support for the greenback this time. The manufacturing production in June rose by 0.6%, which was great both compared to the failure in May and the current expectations at 0.5% MoM. Meanwhile, the production capacity factor rose from 77.7% to 78.0% last month, and while the expectations were even more optimistic, the investors still remained happy. Another positive factor for the dollar was the bond yield rise.

All these stats continue to influence the market on Wednesday, too, so the greenback feels very comfortable.