Five central bank decisions, a confirmed FX intervention, oil breaking triple digits, and an FOMC vote split not seen in over three decades — the week of April 27–May 1 didn’t come to play.
Markets spent Monday cautiously positioning before a calendar stacked with catalysts, and the FX complex spent the rest of the week reacting to the fallout. A deeply hawkish Fed drove the dollar to its best close on Wednesday. Japan’s Vice Finance Minister then delivered a “final warning” to yen speculators — and followed it with action — flipping the JPY from near the week’s worst to its clear best performer.
Meanwhile, the Hormuz standoff kept oil elevated and commodity currencies on edge. The euro wrestled with stagflation and a fresh tariff threat. Sterling navigated a surprise BoE vote split. And the franc quietly absorbed it all. Here’s how the majors played out.