The dollar index, which compares the value of the currency to six important rivals, increased by 0.1% to 102.83.
It is almost steady since the statistics and has mostly ignored Tuesday’s hotter-than-expected U.S. consumer inflation data. Since U.S. data indicates that the economy is still robust and investors are reducing their predictions for swift and significant interest rate reduction, the index has increased by around 1.5% this year.
Further hints on the timeframe of rate decreases may come from data on producer inflation, retail sales, and weekly jobless claims that are scheduled for release at 1230 GMT (8.30 a.m. ET).
“In a calm market environment, today’s U.S. data will be quite important,” ING FX analyst Francesco Pesole stated. “That will undoubtedly be today’s major event.”
“We are just waiting for the central bank meetings next week to see what happens,” he continued. “This is very much a bit of an in-between week.”
Next week’s interest rate decisions will be made by the Bank of Japan on Tuesday, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday, and the Bank of England on Thursday.
With no significant European economic data to add volatility, the euro finished the day little down at $1.0942, bringing its year-to-date decline to around 0.9%. At $1.2811, sterling was up 0.1%, or 0.6%, for the year.
After continuing its ascent, Bitcoin reached a record high of $73,803. The largest cryptocurrency has increased thanks to exchange-traded bitcoin funds and expectations that the Fed would lower interest rates this year.
With investors bracing for a likely rate hike by the Bank of Japan at its meeting next week, the dollar saw no movement at 147.75 yen, nursing losses of 2% over the previous two weeks.
According to Reuters, if the pay negotiations with large corporations produce positive outcomes, Japan’s central bank would discuss removing negative interest rates.
The first findings of the spring wage discussions are expected on Friday, and many of the largest corporations in the nation have already consented to pay raise requests from labor unions.
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In other news, statistics revealed that Sweden’s headline inflation slowed more than anticipated in February, which caused the dollar to rise 0.1% versus the Swedish crown to 10.239 crowns.
According to market pricing on Thursday, traders believe there is a 75% possibility that the Fed will drop rates by June.