Dollar Rises as Trump Reiterates Plans on Tariffs
The dollar gauge rose to a session high after US President Donald Trump reiterated plans to hit Canada and Mexico with 25% tariffs this coming Saturday. The loonie fell more than 1% on the comments.
Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index steadied after jumping as much as 0.2% on Trump’s words.
Inflation-adjusted gross domestic product increased an annualized 2.3% in the fourth quarter after rising 3.1% in the prior three-month period, according to the government’s initial estimate published Thursday.
The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 2.6% growth.
USD/CAD rose as much as 1.2% to 1.4595 on tariff comments before curbing the move.
EUR/USD was down 0.1% at 1.0407, had advanced as much as 0.4%.
ECB President Christine Lagarde said the decision was unanimous to lower rates by 25 basis points, which eased concerns that some policymakers would argue for a bigger reduction.
“We know the direction of travel,” Lagarde said. “For those who would like to have this solid forward guidance, it would be totally unrealistic to do anything of that nature, simply because we are facing significant and probably rising uncertainty at the moment.”
USD/JPY fell 0.6% to 154.25; the Bank of Japan made a significant step toward shrinking its massive balance sheet last week, underscoring Governor Kazuo Ueda’s determination to slowly but steadily proceed with the normalization of policy.
Deputy Governor Ryozo Himino reiterated the central bank will hike interest rates if its economic and price outlook is realized..
GBP/USD traded 0.1% lower to 1.2434.
USD/CHF rose 0.3% to 0.9093.
Source: Bloomberg
