The US dollar is moderately declining against major world currencies on Thursday morning as investors are assessing U.S. economic data and its possible influence on the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) policy.
The index calculated by ICE, which shows the U.S. dollar dynamics against six currencies (euro, Swiss franc, yen, Canadian dollar, pound sterling and the Swedish krona), fell by 0.2% during morning trading. The day before the indicator reached its highest in five weeks.
The euro/dollar pair was trading at $1.0709 at 7:58 a.m. against $1.0688 at the close of Wednesday’s session, with the euro adding about 0.2%.
The day before, the U.S. Commerce Department reported that retail sales in the country rose 3% last month versus December, the fastest pace since March 2021.
Meanwhile, U.S. industrial production in January remained unchanged from the previous month, according to a Federal Reserve report released Wednesday. Experts’ consensus forecast called for an increase of 0.5%.
Recent statements from members of the Federal Reserve Board indicate that they generally support a further increase in the key interest rate to fight inflation. In particular, the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Thomas Barkin, and his colleague from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Laurie Logan, spoke about it.
Barkin said in an interview with Bloomberg that the Fed “needs to do more to fight inflation,” while Logan noted that the central bank “will have to raise the rate longer than previously expected.”
The pound sterling is up 0.1 percent, trading at $1.2049 versus $1.2032 at the close of last session.
The dollar-yen exchange rate is down 0.2% at 133.87 yen from 134.17 yen the day before.
