FOREX TODAY: US DOLLAR CONTINUES TO RISE AHEAD OF SIGNIFICANT FED SPEECH

ON FRIDAY, MARCH 22, YOU SHOULD BE AWARE OF THE FOLLOWING:

The US dollar after a selloff late in the day. The US Dollar (USD) Index regained nearly 0.5% of its post-Fed decline on Thursday. As of Friday morning, the USD Index is still rising early; it was last seen trading above 104.00, which is the highest level it has reached. Later in the day, Jerome Powell, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, will launch the Fed, policymakers have scheduled speeches for before the weekend.

The USD gained strength from the strong macroeconomic data releases on Thursday, and it started to outperform its rivals during the American session. Although input price pressures continued to strengthen, according to PMI surveys, the private sector's economy was the first half of March. Additionally, the Initial Jobless Claims fell to 210K during the week ending March 16.

THIS WEEK'S US DOLLAR EXCHANGE RATE

The table below shows the US dollar's (USD) percentage movement this week relative to a list of major currencies. In terms of strength, the US dollar performed better than the Swiss franc.

The heat map shows the percentage fluctuations of the major currencies in relation to each other. The left column, and the quotation currency is chosen from the top row. For instance, if you choose the Euro in the left column and go down the horizontal line to the Japanese Yen, the percentage change displayed in the box will be EUR (base)/JPY (quote).

The Bank of England (BoE) maintained March policy meeting. The BoE gave the policy place. Furthermore, only one congressman supported a rise in rates, while all others voted against it. The Bank of England Governor, Andrew Bailey, said on Friday that he is becoming more confident that inflation will hit the target and that markets this year. Strong bearish pressure is still present on the GBP/USD pair; it was last seen trading near 1.2600, which is a month's low.

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) announced on Thursday that it was lowering the 1.5%. The SNB would keep its current level. In response to the initial reaction, the Swiss Franc suffered a selloff, while the USD/CHF rose by more than 1% to reach a high level above 0.9000, its highest level since November.

The EUR/USD pair fell further after breaking below 1.0900 on Thursday, losing almost 0.6% a day. The pair continues to move down early on Friday, trading below 1.0850.

For the eighth day in a row, the USD/JPY ended Thursday in putting on a technical retreat on Friday around the 151.50 area. Kazuo Ueda, the governor of the Bank of Japan, reiterated on Friday that the central bank will continue to hold Japanese government bonds (JGBs) at the current levels for the foreseeable future.

Gold retraced its steps day lower on Thursday at fresh record high early above $2,220. XAU/USD continues to trail behind in the European morning, as it was last seen down more than 0.5% below $2,170.