Dollar Eases From Recent Highs
The U.S. dollar eased slightly from a recent one-year high at the start of a week that was light on major economic data but included comments from a series of Fed speakers.
At 4:50 AM ET (09:50 GMT), the Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, was trading 0.1% lower at 106.497, just below a one-year high of 106.72.
The index gained 1.6% for the week, marking its sixth winning week in the past seven.
Dollar holds its strength
The dollar has benefited from a structural bullish shift since the election of Donald Trump toward the start of the month, and the macro story hasn’t exactly offered any reason to reconsider.
“Inflation data has been hotter than the Federal Reserve’s target can tolerate, and Chairman Jerome Powell added a layer of caution to future easing in his speech last week,” analysts at ING said in a note.
"With very little additional information on the U.S. economy to be added this week, the market-implied policy divergence between the Fed and most other G10 central banks could mean that any correction led by positioning is likely to be short-lived."
There are at least seven Fed speakers on the agenda this week, starting Monday afternoon with Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee. Although he is widely considered to be more of a dovish hawk, most officials are expected to sound cautious about aggressive cuts.
Futures suggest a 60% chance the Fed will ease by a quarter-point in December and have only 77 basis points of cuts expected by the end of 2025, compared with more than 100 bps a few weeks ago.
Source: Investing.com
