Sharjah24 – Reuters: The U.S. dollar languished near a three-week low to major peers on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell assuaged trader worries about continued aggressive monetary tightening.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six counterparts, slid overnight after the Fed raised the benchmark rate by an as-expected 75 basis points to bring it closer to neutral, while noting that although the labour market remains strong, other economic indicators have softened. Read full story
The dollar index =USD was slightly higher at 106.54 in early Asian trading after dropping 0.59% overnight. Below 106.1 would be the lowest since July 5.
The two-year Treasury yield US2YR=RR, which is especially sensitive to policy expectations, sagged near its lowest level this week at 2.9878%, adding further weight on the dollar.
It remained about 23 basis points above the 10-year yield US10YR=RR though, widely seen as signalling a looming downturn.
Whether the U.S. economy meets the definition of a technical recession by posting two straight quarters of contraction will be known later on Thursday with the release of GDP figures, which will be the market's next major focus.
Japan's currency, which is extremely sensitive to U.S. yields, gained on Thursday. One dollar bought 136.325 yen JPY=EBS, which was 0.2% less than Wednesday.
The euro EUR=EBS slipped 0.08% to $1.0191, but following a 0.82% jump overnight.
Sterling GBP=D3 was 0.09% lower at $1.2146, after rallying 1.06% on Wednesday.
Cryptocurrency bitcoin BTC=BTSP eased 0.58% to $22,836.57, giving up a bit of its more than 8% surge the previous session.
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