The NZD/USD pair lost nearly 70 pips on Wednesday as the USD gathered strength on the back of the hawkish shift witnessed in policymakers’ outlook in the Summary of Projection. With the greenback rally remaining intact on Thursday, the pair extended its slide and was last seen trading at its lowest level since April 13 at 0.7051, losing 0.48% on a daily basis.

The Fed’s dot plot revealed that the number of policymakers who expect a rate hike in 2022 rose to seven from four in March. Furthermore, 13 policymakers are now seeing a rate hike in 2023, compared to seven in the previous publication.

Reflecting the positive impact of this development on the USD, the US Dollar Index (DXY) rose 1% and registered its biggest one-day percentage gain of the year. Currently, the DXY is at its highest level in two months at 91.78, up 0.43% on the day.

Trade analysis by Andre Almeida at BlackBull Markets