Investing.com – The dollar continued its revival from nearly four-month lows against a basket of major currencies shrugging off the recent flurry of mixed Fed commentary on monetary policy outlook.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose 0.25% to 92.31.
The U.S. Federal Reserve should leave interest rates at current low levels to support inflation and wage gains, Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari said on Tuesday.
Kaskari’s inflationary concerns paled in comparison to his Boston counterpart Eric Rosengren who said Monday, the Fed should focus an “inflation range” between 1.5% to 3% as inflation has struggled to meet the Fed’s 2% target.
San Francisco Fed President John Williams, an FOMC voter, said recently three rates remained appropriate for 2018 amid expectations that President Donald Trump’s tax reform plans would give the economy a boost.
The dollar’s move higher, however, was limited somewhat by yen strength after the Bank of Japan reduce its purchases of long-dated government bonds, raising expectations that the central bank could rein in its massive accommodative monetary policy measures this year.
USD/JPY fell 0.43% to Y112.63.
Sterling, continued to weaken in the wake of Prime Minister Theresa May’s decision to reshuffle the Cabinet. Some said they expected the Cabinet reshuffle would strengthen May’s leadership but the opposite appears to have transpired amid a string of resignations.
GBP/USD fell 0.31% to $1.3527.
EUR/USD fell 0.38% to $1.1923 while USD/CAD rose 0.32% as the latter shrugged off growing speculation that the Bank of Canada could raise its benchmark rate next week.