FX DAILY REPORT – 19 September 2024
- The Rand opened stronger against all the majors this morning.
- The US Feds decided to cut interest rates by 50 basis points last night from 5.50% to 5.00%. This steep rate cut caused the USD to weaken significantly following the announcement. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell highlighted that the Fed will resume its wait-and-see approach regarding incoming economic data before deciding on further rate cuts.
- South African CPI figures released yesterday morning, came out lower than the previous months result at 4.4% and, more importantly, lower than SARBs inflation target of 4.5%. This increases the odds that SARB will cut interest rates by 25-basis points today. Although the 25-basis point cut has already been priced in by investors, we may see some volatility in the ZAR today following the announcement at 15:00.
Todays Events:
- UK BoE Interest Rate Decision at 13:00 – Expected to remain the same at 5.00%. A rate cut can be seen as negative for the GBP.
- US Initial Jobless Claims at 14:30 – Expected to remain the same at 230k. A than expected result can be seen as negative for the USD.
- South African SARB Interest Rate Decision at 15:00 – Expected to cut to 8.00% from 8.25%. A larger cut than expected can be seen as negative for the ZAR.
- US Existing Home Sales at 16:00 – Expected to be 3.90M from previous 3.95M. A higher than expected result can be seen as positive for the USD.