NEW YORK: The US dollar advanced near a seven-month high against major currencies on Wednesday after data showed US inflation for October increased in line with expectations, suggesting the Federal Reserve will keep cutting rates.
The greenback has risen to its highest level since April 16, buoyed by Donald Trump’s victory in last week’s US presidential election, which sparked expectations of potentially inflationary tariffs and other measures by his incoming administration.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.33% to 106.34 after reaching as high as 106.50.
Labor Department data on Wednesday showed the US consumer price index rose 0.2% for the fourth straight month, in line with economists’ expectations, amid higher costs for shelter such as rents. In the 12 months through October, the CPI advanced 2.6%.
US Treasury yields fell following the inflation data, with the benchmark US 10-year note yield dropping 2.3 basis points to 4.41%.
“So certainly there was a lot of concern going into the number as it’s just one of the new bricks in this kind of wall of worry; so there’s a little bit of a relief rally and yields are lower,” said Marvin Loh, senior global market strategist at State Street in Boston.
“It just shows how on edge the market is based on the Fed, based on inflation, and certainly based on this nebulous Trump trade. The dollar seems to be one of the cleanest, easiest ways of playing the Trump trade as well as bitcoin, it seems.”
Japan’s wholesale inflation accelerated in October at the fastest annual pace in more than a year, complicating the Bank of Japan’s decision on how soon to raise interest rates.
The yen broke through 155 per dollar, the Japanese currency’s weakest level since late July. It was last at 155.01 yen per dollar.
The euro continued its descent amid expectations of potential Trump tariffs. The euro was down 0.43% at $1.0577.
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