DOLLAR INDEX AT ONE-WEEK HIGH AS POWELL SENDS RATE HIKE SIGNALS

Published on Nov 10, 2023 11:12

The dollar index firmed up to a one-week high on Friday following rise in US benchmark treasury yields amid hawkish tone in Powell statement overnight. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is committed to achieving a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to bring inflation down to 2 percent over time; we are not confident that we have achieved such a stance, Powell said at "Monetary Policy Challenges in a Global Economy," a policy panel at the 24th Jacques Polak Annual Research Conference. If it becomes appropriate to tighten policy further, we will not hesitate to do so, he added. Going forward, it may be that a greater share of the progress in reducing inflation will have to come from tight monetary policy restraining the growth of aggregate demand, the Fed chief noted. The dollar index that measures the greenback against a basket of currencies is holding at 105.77, unchanged on the day but set for a weekly gain of around 1%. Among the basket currencies, EURUSD and GBPUSD also stayed somewhat flat awaiting further cues from the greenback overseas.