Mexican peso falls against the dollar on growing fears of the Fed’s rate hike

He Mexican peso it depreciated marginally against the US dollar in the operations of this Tuesday, April 18, thus spinning three sessions downward. The local currency backed down due to growing expectations of a new rate increase by the Federal Reserve (Fed) in May before going on hiatus.

He exchange rate ended the day at the level of 18.0435 units per dollar, compared to a close of 18.0282 units registered yesterday, with the official data of the Bank of Mexico (Banxico). With this move, the weight had a slight retracement of 0.08%.

“The data published today in the United States on construction permits could add to the arguments for pausing the Fed’s reference rate hikes,” Masari Casa de Bolsa said in an analysis note.

In the morning, the president of the Federal Reserve of St. Louis, James Bullard, said in an interview with Reuters that the Fed should continue raising interest rates in light of recent data showing persistent inflation in an economy that seems inclined to continue growing.

He Dollar Index (DXY), which compares the greenback with the basket of the other six currencies of the Group of 7 (G7)fell 0.35% at the close to 101.74 units.

In Mexico, the Timely Indicator of Economic Activity (IOAE) of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) showed that during March, the Mexican economy would manage to avoid a fall and record a monthly advance of 0.1%.

While it was detailed that the IOAE it was revised up for February from 0.29% to 0.73% per month, the highest growth rate since April 2022.

The IOAE for March indicated a “clear slowdown” compared to the monthly growth of the first two months of the year of 0.56% and 0.73% respectively, the director of analysis at Banco Base, Gabriela Siller Pagaza, commented through her social networks.

(With information from Reuters.)