The U.S. dollar rose moderately against the euro and pound sterling Wednesday morning as traders assessed U.S. inflation data for January.
The ICE-calculated index, which shows how the U.S. dollar is performing against six currencies (euro, Swiss franc, yen, Canadian dollar, pound sterling and Swedish krona), is up 0.2% in morning trading.
The euro/dollar pair is trading at $1.0716 at 7:43 a.m. versus $1.0737 at the close of Tuesday’s session, the euro is losing about 0.2%.
As it became known the day before, consumer prices (CPI) in the U.S. rose by 6.4% in January compared to the same month last year. Thus, inflation slowed down from 6.5% in December.
However, analysts had expected a much more significant weakening in the pace of price growth, to an average of 6.2%, according to Trading Economics. The slower-than-expected slowdown in inflation raises the possibility that the Fed will continue to stay tight on monetary policy.
Now the market is waiting for U.S. retail sales data for January, which will be released at 4:30 p.m. Moscow time on Wednesday to better gauge the health of the U.S. economy. According to the consensus forecast, sales jumped 1.8% year-over-year last month after falling 1.1% in December.
The pound is 0.2 percent cheaper, trading at $1.2152 versus $1.2174 at the close of last session.
The dollar/yen exchange rate is at 133.05 yen compared to 133.12 yen the day before.
