European session review: USD retreats after Fed-triggered climb last week

USD fell against its major counterparts in the European session on Monday, pulling back after last week’s surge that was triggered by some hawkish-sounding Fed comments.

The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), measuring the U.S. currency's value relative to a basket of foreign currencies, dropped 0.13% to 92.10 after a jump of 1.8% in the previous week, the most since March last year.

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard told CNBC on Friday that the U.S. central bank had already begun talks on the tapering of its $120 billion a month bond-buying program and revealed that he was one of the seven FOMC’s members on Wednesday that projected an interest rate hike in late 2022. Bullard was previously viewed as one of the more dovish Fed officials. 

Bullard’s hawkish comments followed the Fed's updated “dot plot”, which revealed that the FOMC’s members are now predicting at least two interest rate hikes in 2023, a year earlier than projected in March.

The Fed’s hawkish pivot encouraged investors to price in sooner-than-previously-expected increases in interest rate, providing support to USD.

Market participants are now looking for remarks from ten FOMC’s members this week, with Fed’s Chair Jerome  Powell, who is considered a super dove, scheduled to testify before the U.S. Congress on Tuesday.