Dollar pinned as Powell plods toward tapering
The dollar was nursing losses on Monday and kept near multi-week lows after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell laid out a slower-than-expected path to rate hikes
"It could be appropriate to start reducing the pace of asset purchases this year," Powell said in a speech, with employment the determining factor. But that wouldn't directly signal higher rates, he said, as hiking would need the economy to pass "a different and substantially more stringent test".
Traders latched on to the wiggle-room in the rates outlook and sold dollars, while Treasury yields fell, with the dollar index ending Friday with a 0.4% loss and picking up on Monday more or less where it left off, at 92.670.
The euro rose 0.4% to just above $1.1800 and it held there on Monday, while the yen crept through its 20-day moving average and steadied at 109.78 per dollar.
Reference: Reuters
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