US dollar is struggling today, mostly lower against its major counterparts as comments from Federal Reserve officials seem to indicate that the asset purchase taper isn’t likely until perhaps March. With hopes for the taper to start in December fading, the greenback is showing some weakness.
Even with the recent economic data that has been better than expected, the US dollar is heading a bit lower today. As has been the case quite a bit in recent months, the dollar’s performance is all about the possibility of the Federal Reserve tapering its asset purchases and slowly moving away from quantitative easing.
The latest drop comes after St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard made remarks that many analysts interpret as signaling that a taper isn’t likely until at least after the first of the new year — and maybe not until March. The news is weighing on the US dollar, sending it lower as stimulus continues to add dollars to the market.
At 16:56 GMT the US dollar index is down to 80.0010 from the open at 80.1490. EUR/USD is up to 1.3769 from the open at 1.3740. GBP/USD is down to 1.6425 from the open at 1.3427. USD/JPY is down to 102.8150 from the open at 103.2925. USD/CAD is down to 1.0622 from the open at 1.0637.
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