Major dollar pairs froze in anticipation of the announcement of the results of the Fed's May meeting. The EUR/USD pair was no exception here: the price settled at the bottom of the 5th figure, demonstrating low volatility. Over the past few days, both sellers and buyers have tried their hand. But they were unable to turn the tide in their favor. The EUR/USD bears failed to gain a foothold within the 4th figure in order to theoretically qualify for further decline, while the pair's bulls failed to develop a corrective movement, which bogged down near the 1.0580 target. As a result, the parties took a defensive position, waiting for the Fed's verdict.
By and large, there are only two options for the development of events: either traders will go to the bottom of the fourth figure in order to further test the support level of 1.0350 (this is the area of 20-year lows), or buyers will drag the pair into the range of 1.0660–1. 0730 (Tenkan-sen line and middle line of Bollinger Bands on D1 respectively).
Looking ahead, it should be noted that trading in dollar pairs is extremely risky now, given the fact that the intrigue around the results of the May meeting remains. On the one hand, it is quite clear that the Fed will take a hawkish stance, raising interest rates and declaring further steps in this direction. But on the other hand, there is no consensus among the expert community regarding the pace of monetary tightening.
For example, the option of a 75-point rate increase following the results of the May meeting is not at all excluded (although such a scenario is recognized as unlikely). Or the regulator may allow the rate to increase by this amount at the June meeting, if US inflation continues to show rapid growth.
In general, it doesn't matter whether the Fed raises the rate by 75 points at the May meeting, or announces such a move in the context of the June meeting: the effect will be the same. In this case, we will witness a dollar rally throughout the market, including the EUR/USD pair. This is the most hawkish scenario – it will allow the EUR/USD bears to take another step towards 20-year price lows.
The rest of the scenarios are more moderate, but all involve a 50 basis points hike in May and (probably) 50 bp in June. As for the future prospects, the regulator can leave room for maneuver, "tying" the pace of monetary policy tightening to the dynamics of inflationary growth.
Based on this, the question follows: is a corrective growth of EUR/USD possible even in the event of a 50-point rate increase? Certainly, it is possible. The fact is that the market has wound up on itself quite strongly: over the past few weeks, the hawkish expectations of traders have been growing "by leaps and bounds," thereby increasing the degree of heat. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard added fuel to the fire, who, in fact, proposed raising the rate by 75 points at once at the May meeting. The flywheel of hawkish expectations has been spinning more and more, especially during the last days – as you know, "appetite comes with eating."
That is why the US Federal Reserve may not fully justify these expectations by taking a "moderately aggressive" position. For example, if they raise the rate by 50 points and rather vaguely admit the option of a 50-point increase in the future "depending on the circumstances," that is, depending on the further growth of US inflation. At the same time, the regulator may not mention the option of a 75-point increase at all or even reject it. In this case, buyers of the EUR/USD pair will organize a fairly powerful counterattack, with targets in the range of 1.0660-1.0730.
It would be reasonable to use this corrective growth for opening short positions, with the targets of 1.0550, 1.0500. The fact is that even in the case of its "moderate aggressiveness," the American regulator will still be several steps ahead of the European Central Bank. Consequently, the divergence of the positions of the central bank will not go anywhere.
Let me remind you that the ECB still doubts the advisability of tightening monetary policy in the foreseeable future. In particular, the vice-president of the European regulator, Luis de Guindos, in one of his interviews a few days ago, stated that the ECB Governing Council "did not discuss any predetermined way to raise rates." According to him, much will depend on macroeconomic data in June. At the same time, market expectations are opposite: the first increase is expected at the July meeting, while the ECB should raise rates by 70–90 points by the end of the year.
In addition, the dollar is supported by the external fundamental background. First of all, we are talking about geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe and around Taiwan, as well as another outbreak of coronavirus in China. The euro, in turn, is under pressure from "its own" factors. These are issues of energy security of the European Union, as well as the risks of stagflation.
All this suggests that it is advisable to use any corrective pullbacks for the EUR/USD pair as a reason to enter sales. The downward targets in the medium term are 1.0550 (if following the results of the meeting, the upward impulse will follow in the area of the 6th figure), 1.0500, 1.0450.
