The U.S. dollar hit its lowest level in five weeks against a basket of major currencies on Thursday and was on course for its worst week since November, hit by a loss of confidence in the U.S. reflation trade a day after a news conference by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
Speculators had driven the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, to a one-week high Wednesday in anticipation that Trump’s first news conference since his Nov. 8 victory would give more detail on new fiscal spending and tax measures to repatriate U.S. corporate capital held overseas.
Instead, the event was dominated by debate over Russian hacking and unsubstantiated claims that he had been caught in a compromising position in Moscow. The dollar index tumbled to 100.720 Thursday after touching, its weakest since Dec. 8 after touching 102.950 before the news conference Wednesday. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N1F10JA
“Mr. Trump disappointed in not providing deeper details on his policy platform,” said Joe Manimbo, senior market analyst with Western Union Business Solutions in Washington.
The dollar index had gained 4 percent between Trump’s election victory and Wednesday on expectations that his promised policies would boost inflation and encourage the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates. The index is on track to fall 1.3 percent this week to mark its worst week since that ended Nov. 4.
via Nasdaq
Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.