Yahoo Finance U.S. Dollar Inches Down Ahead of Powell Speech
Investing.com - The greenback was down slightly Tuesday, but still remained near two-month highs as investors waited for speeches from Federal Reserve officials to give more clues about monetary policy over the coming months.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.13% to 96.727 as of 11:00 AM ET (16:00 GMT).
Traders will focus mostly on Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, who is expected to speak at the Hope Enterprise Corporation Rural Policy Forum in Mississippi at 12:45 PM ET (17:45 GMT).
Speeches from Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester and Kansas City Fed President Esther George are also on the agenda for today.
Expectations for a Fed rate hike this year are quickly losing ground, as the central bank paused its pace of tightening.
The dollar was up against the safe-haven yen, with USD/JPY jumping 0.62% to 110.38. The yen is typically sought by investors as a safe haven during times of economic or market stress.
Elsewhere, the pound rallied after it slid to a three-week low after data showed the U.K. economy has stalled ahead of Brexit. Sterling was lifted after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said that modest tightening of monetary policy should be enough for the central bank to achieve its inflation target. GBP/USD increased 0.26% to 1.2882.
Elsewhere the euro was higher, with EUR/USD recovering 0.2% to 1.1296.
In Australia, the AUD/USD rose 0.4% to 0.7089 while NZD/USD inched up 0.07% to 0.6735. The loonie was higher, with USD/CAD down 0.3% to 1.3259.
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