Yahoo Finance Dollar Dips Ahead of Trump-Juncker Trade Talks
Investing.com - The dollar dipped against a currency basket on Wednesday as investors awaited a meeting between the U.S. and the European Union amid heightened trade tensions in the global economy.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, edged down 0.11% to 94.30 by 03:38 AM ET (07:38 AM GMT).
U.S. President Donald Trump is to host European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in the White House for trade talks later Wednesday, with talks set to center on the auto industry.
Trump has already slapped tariffs on U.S. imposed tariffs steel and aluminum imports from the EU and has threatened to impose tariffs on $50 billion of car imports from the bloc, which would prompt retaliatory action from Brussels.
The euro was almost flat, with EUR/USD trading at 1.1693 in rangebound trade.
Investors were also looking ahead to an European Central Bank policy meeting on Thursday for fresh guidance on monetary policy.
At its June meeting the ECB indicated that rates would remain on hold through the middle of 2019 and also announced plans to wind up its massive stimulus program in December.
The dollar inched higher against th yen, with USD/JPY last at 111.25.
The Japanese currency found support earlier in the week following reports that the Bank of Japan is actively discussing changes to its massive monetary stimulus program. The BoJ is due to hold its next policy meeting at the end of the month.
The pound was a touch higher, with GBP/USD at 1.3153.
Meanwhile, the Australian dollar was lower, with AUD/USD falling 0.3% to 0.7403 after sluggish inflation data overnight indicated that the country's central bank is likely to keep rates on hold for longer.
The dollar eased against the Chinese yuan, but remained near 13-month highs amid ongoing concerns over trade tensions.
The currency, which is usually closely controlled by Beijing, was at 6.7945 in offshore trading.
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