By Gina Lee
Investing.com – The dollar was up on Wednesday morning in Asia after a three-day loss, and was near a one-month low against the yen. Investors now await the latest U.S. inflation data that could provide a clue to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s timetable for interest rate hikes.
The U.S. Dollar Index Futures that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies inched up 0.08% to 94.032 by 11:54 PM ET (4:54 AM GMT).
The USD/JPY pair inched down 0.02% to 112.82.
The AUD/USD pair edged down 0.11% to 0.7367 and the NZD/USD pair edged down 0.20% to 0.7111.
The USD/CNY pair inched up 0.03% to 6.3934. Chinese data released earlier in the day showed that the consumer price index (CPI) grew 0.7% month-on-month and 1.5% year-on-year in October. The producer price index (PPI) grew by 13.5% year on year.
The GBP/USD pair inched up 0.02% to 1.3557.
Tuesday’s data showed that the U.S. PPI grew 0.6% month-on-month and 8.6% year-on-year in October. The core PPI grew 0.4% month-on-month, and the CPI figure is due later in the day.
“We’ll need to see a print of 0.8% month-on-month to see the dollar index break out of the top of the range of 94.50," Pepperstone head of research Chris Weston said in a note. While the dollar has been trending lower against the yen, “if U.S. CPI comes in hot then this poses a risk to USD/JPY shorts,” Weston added.
In the ongoing debate on when the Fed will hike interest rates, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard noted corporate pricing power and has already penciled in two interest rate hikes in 2022. San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly, on the other hand, expects “eye-popping” inflation to subside in 2022 as supply-chain bottlenecks subside.
U.S. President Joe Biden met with Fed Governor Lael Brainard, a potential candidate to be the next Fed Chairman. She is considered a dovish pick, and “Brainard’s possible nomination as Fed Chair is chipping at the dollar,” Westpac analysts said in a note.
“Otherwise, the underlying picture remains dollar-supportive,” the note added.
In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin traded around the $67,000 mark, not far from the record high of $68,564.40 hit on Tuesday.