This coming week we will have some speeches from several of the central banks.

Early in the week RBA Gov Stevens is up, and later we have the Fed's Yellen and ECB Draghi to finish off the week.

The overall expectation for the week does not call for much, but I will be looking for any type of surprise announcement that can shake out the market.


From the RBA - I have blogged about this before. We may see a shift in monetary policy, it all depends on which area they decide to focus on. In the last meeting everything was status quo. In the past Stevens has attempted on several occasions to talk down the currency. I do not know what to expect from the meeting at this time, however I will be following closely the rhetoric to see if any follow up trades present themselves.


From the FED - The market has largely been awaiting announcements regarding rate hikes. It seems to me that Yellen has gone to great lengths not to give any details regarding a time line to the hike. It appears she has gone out of her way to ensure that the market is not expecting this hike. If her stance changes at all and she provides a hawkish tone, this can impact the USD on a major level.

The USD bulls are ready to jump in at this point as we've seen a minimal pull back on several pairs. Any type of catalyst will be warmly welcomed for a further USD rally.


From the ECB - The general expecation is for a quiet meeting. The EUR has already depreciated significantly since negative rates were introduced. Similar to the Fed, the ECB has appeared hesitant to implement any type of monetary policy change, and may be holding back to avoid using their entire arsenal. There is no reason to believe any type of new monetary policy will be introduced at this time.

There may be a strategy in place from the ECB to expect the EUR to weaken via USD strength that is expected as a cause of rate hikes. This means the ECB would be on auto pilot, leaning on the FED to achieve what would normally be done through their monetary policy.
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