Euro extends slide

The EUR/USD pair extends its downside to three-day low around 1.0840 in the late Asian session on Friday. The major currency pair is expected to witness as appeal for safe-haven assets improve after the Swiss National Bank (SNB) surprisingly cut interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) to 1.50% on Thursday.

A surprise rate cut by the SNB has prompted hopes that inflation is getting under control and other central banks will follow its footprints. This has underscored the demand of the US Dollar as the Federal Reserve (Fed) has revised higher forecast for the annual core Personal Consumption Expenditure Price Index (PCE) to 2.6% from prior estimates of 2.4% for 2024 in its latest economic projections. The US Dollar Index (DXY) rises to a fresh two-week high around 104.20 and recovers its post-Fed policy losses.

Meanwhile, the Euro come under pressure as market expectations for the European Central Bank (ECB) lowering interest rates in the June meeting have boosted by SNB’s surprise rate cut. The pace at which the Eurozone’s inflation is decelerating is higher than the US economy, strengthening hopes for ECB reducing rates aggressively than the Federal Reserve (Fed).