The USD appreciates against major currencies as investors await information from the Fed.
The US dollar is gaining ground at the beginning of trading on Wednesday.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of this currency against a basket of six other major currencies, is up 0.3% to 104.200, nearing two-week highs.
Federal Reserve officials conclude their monetary policy meeting this Wednesday, and all signs point to them maintaining interest rates at elevated levels as they continue to combat inflation.
However, traders will carefully study Chairman Jerome Powell’s statements in the subsequent press conference, as well as the central bank’s new economic projections, in search of clues about when committee members believe it might be possible to begin cutting interest rates.
The GBP/USD pair is down 0.2%, reaching the level of 1.2696, following, after consumer prices rose by 3.4% on an annual basis in February, slowing down from January’s 4.0% increase and below the expected 3.5%.
This marks the lowest inflation rate since September 2021, offering hope that inflation, which has been persistent for some time, will finally recede to the central bank’s target of 2% in the coming months.
The EUR/USD pair is down 0.2% to the level of 1.0845, approaching two-week lows amid growing expectations that the ECB will soon agree to a series of interest rate cuts, starting in early summer.
The USD/JPY pair is up 0.6% to the level of 151.75, reaching its highest level since mid-November, even with Japan on holiday.
The Japanese yen has continued to weaken following the Bank of Japan’s latest monetary policy meeting. Bank Governor Kazuo Ueda has assured that the central bank will maintain accommodative conditions to support the Japanese economy, and these statements largely overshadowed the bank’s departure from negative interest rates and yield curve control.
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