The US dollar is at its lowest level since June

North American stock markets had a fair gain this week especially on Wednesday after the remarks from the US Federal Reserve’s Chair, Jerome Powell, showed that the central bank is leaning toward a slower pace of interest rate hikes as the record-high inflation is showing signs of cooling down.

S&P 500 and Nasdaq climbed 1.22% and 1.75% in the past five days respectively. Canada’s S&P/TSX Composite added 0.8% in the same period as oil prices continue to decline on the news of unrest in China and the extended lockdown on increasing Covid cases. S&P 500 is surpassing a critical level of the 250-day moving average which is considered a sign of the end of the bear market by technical analysts.

The slower pace of interest rate hikes and other central banks around the world catching up with the higher interest rates led to the US dollar giving up more of its gains and the DXY index, as a benchmark against a basket of major world currencies, dropping to 104 which is the lowest level since June.

The markets now are looking for Friday’s US jobs and unemployment report to gauge the health of the US economy and the likelihood of a recession in 2023.