Dollar in retreat as Powell says Fed won't raise rates on fear of inflation

 

The US dollar remained on the back foot against major peers on Wednesday after a two-day drop as US Fed officials including Chair Powell reaffirmed that tighter monetary policy was still some way off

By Kevin Buckland
TOKYO (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar remained on the back foot against major peers on Wednesday after a two-day drop as U.S. Federal Reserve officials including Chair Jerome Powell reaffirmed that tighter monetary policy was still some way off.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback versus six rivals, was at 91.775 in early Asian trading, off a two-month high of 92.408 reached at the end of last week.

It has now given up about a third of its sharp gains posted since last Wednesday, when the Fed surprised markets by signalling much earlier rate hikes than investors previously expected.

Overnight, both Powell and New York Fed President John Williams warned that the economic recovery requires more time before a tapering of stimulus and higher borrowing costs are appropriate.

"Latest smoke signals from the Fed ... all point to September as the meeting when the Fed is, on current trends, most likely to declare that substantial further progress towards their goals has been achieved, or is being achieved," Ray Attrill, head of foreign-exchange strategy at National Australia Bank in Sydney, wrote in a client note, forecasting tapering likely won't start until early next year.

"Their comments have seen markets row back somewhat from their largely position-driven convulsions last week."

The euro was little changed on Wednesday at $1.19340, after rebounding from as low as $1.18470 at the end of last week.

The Aussie dollar, often viewed as a proxy for risk sentiment, was largely flat at $0.7546, up from a recent low of $0.7478.