U.S. Dollar Rises, Even as Bigger Fed Rate Cut Expected
Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was higher on Friday, even as expectations rose that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by half a point at the end of the month.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, gained 0.3% to 96.738 by 10:26 AM ET (14:26 GMT).
U.S. President Donald Trump continued to put pressure on the Fed to cut rates, slamming the central bank via twitter for its "faulty thought process."
New York Federal Reserve President John Williams said Thursday that the central bank needed to “act quickly” when rates were low, as “it's better to take preventative measures than to wait for disaster to unfold.”
Meanwhile, preliminary data from the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index were about in line with expectations, as Americans became more optimistic about the future.
The index edged up to 98.4 in July from 98.2 in June.
The dollar fell against the Japanese yen, with USD/JPY up 0.4% to 107.64.
Elsewhere, the expectation of the U.S. easing its monetary policy has given emerging market central banks more confidence to cut interest rates without undermining their currencies. Indonesia, South Korea and South Africa all cut their key rates by 25 basis points on Thursday.
Meanwhile, EUR/USD slipped 0.4% to 1.1226, GBP/USD slipped 0.2% to 1.2581, while USD/CAD gained 0.3% to 1.3067.
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