EUR/USD scales 1-week high on news of Ukraine peace talks

The EUR/USD currency pair scaled a one-week peak of 1.0440 on Thursday on news the US seeks to begin talks with Russia to end the Ukraine war.

US President Donald Trump said yesterday that both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expressed willingness for peace in separate phone calls with him.

The US President has also ordered top officials to initiate negotiations aimed to end the Russia-Ukraine military confrontation.

Meanwhile, hotter-than-expected US CPI data prompted market players to increase bets that the Federal Reserve will likely keep interest rates higher for longer.

Annual headline consumer inflation in the US has picked up to 3% in January from 2.9% in December, while exceeding market consensus of 2.9%.

Energy costs surged 1% YoY in January, marking their first increase in six months.

Annual core CPI inflation accelerated to 3.3% in January, compared to estimates it would ease to 3.1%.

“The Fed will now have ample justification to stay on hold and be able to see what government policies come into force and gauge their effects,” Tom Nakamura, currency strategist and co-head of fixed income at AGF Investments, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said during his second congressional hearing this week there was no urgency to reduce interest rates.

About 30 basis points of interest rate cuts are now priced in for 2025, compared to 37 basis points prior to the CPI data.

The EUR/USD currency pair was last edging up 0.37% on the day to trade at 1.0420.