- Indian Rupee (INR) weakens as covid cases jump
- Fears of industrial production being disrupted
- US Dollar (USD) traces yields higher post Fed
- US jobless claims worse than expected
The US Dollar Indian Rupee (USD/INR) exchange rate is heading higher on Thursday for a second straight session. The pair settled +0.06% higher on Wednesday at 72.55. At 14:45 UTC, USD/INR trades +0.2% at 72.68 towards the high of the day.
The Indian Rupee is once again under pressure amid growing concerns over rapidly rising covid numbers. India experienced its biggest jump in covid cases in three month on Thursday with new daily infections reaching over 35,000. In an effort to contain the outbreak India has extended a curfew across nine districts.
The fear for investors is that the rapid spread in industrial areas raises the risk of firm’s production being disrupted.
At the same time, the country is looking to accelerate its vaccine rollout to 125,000 doses per day from the current 40,000.
The US Dollar is advancing across the board. The US Dollar Index which gauges the greenback versus a basket of 6 majors, trades +0.4% at 91.86 at the time of writing, clawing back losses from the previous session.
As was widely expected, the US Federal Reserve kept monetary policy unchanged. The central bank lifted growth forecasts substantially with GDP growth of 6.5% now penciled in for 2021 up from 4.3% previously forecast. Inflation forecasts were revised higher by the Fed. The US central bank now expects inflation to reach 2.4% this year.
The Fed reiterated its accommodative stance believing that the spike in inflation above its 2% target would be temporary. Even though treasury yields rose, the US Dollar declined yesterday.
Today, US inflation fears continue to rise amid fears that the Fed’s non-action will lead to an overheating in the US economy.
US jobless claims came in worse than expected rising by 770,000 instead of falling to 700,000 as expected. The data failed to impact the markets.
