Since the beginning of January, the FED has been indicating that the pace of interest rate cuts throughout the year will depend on upcoming data. Additionally, by adopting a hawkish stance, it continues to temper the market's expectation of six interest rate cuts this year, as speculated in December, by signaling only four cuts. Most likely, we will see three or four cuts from the FED this year, with the first one probably occurring in May or June. The rate cuts are expected to be 25 basis points each.
Despite this hawkish stance, the mixed U.S. data in February managed to create an optimistic atmosphere in the market, successfully dampening the dollar. Although there is optimism, we believe that the data's mixed nature and the lack of a change in the FED's hawkish stance have not led to a significant shift. Our current view is that both fundamentally and technically, the dollar index is poised for an uptrend.
From a technical perspective, the main downtrend that has been in place since September 2022 appears to have ended. Particularly, the rebound of the price from the support levels before reaching the previous trend's low level on December 28 supports this view.
Moreover, the doji candlestick formed on the D1 chart on March 8 also signals a reversal in price. Our initial target is the breakout of the main downtrend line. Upon the breakout of this trend line, we anticipate a rise up to the Fibonacci 50% retracement level, which was the previous intra-trend peak. If this level is surpassed, our next target will be the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level.