ZCZC
BCN-20
US-FOREX
U.S. dollar rises on Powell’s testimony
NEW YORK, July 18, 2018 (BSS/Xinhua) – The U.S. dollar went up on Tuesday
as investors were digesting Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s first
congressional testimony.
Powell said in his prepared remarks on Tuesday before the U.S. Senate
Banking Committee that the economy is on the cusp of “several years” in which
the job market remains strong and inflation stays around the Fed’s 2 percent
target.
He also downplayed the impact of current global trade policy discussions
on the outlook for further monetary tightening.
Analysts mostly interpreted Powell’s comments as hawkish, which supported
the greenback on Tuesday.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers,
was up 0.46 percent at 94.942 in late trading.
In late New York trading, the euro was down to 1.1663 dollars from 1.1713
dollars in the previous session, and the British pound decreased to 1.3124
dollars from 1.3231 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian
dollar declined to 0.7390 dollar from 0.7418 dollar.
The U.S. dollar bought 112.84 Japanese yen, higher than 112.31 Japanese
yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar climbed to 0.9993 Swiss franc
from 0.9968 Swiss franc, and it went up to 1.3186 Canadian dollars from
1.3141 Canadian dollars.
BSS/XINHUA/HR/1238