Dollar Down Ahead of Powell Speech

The dollar was down on Thursday morning in Asia, near its lowest levels all week, as investors await further guidance for the U.S. economic recovery from COVID-19 from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will take to the stage at the Jackson Hole symposium later in the day, with investors looking out for a new policy framework tackling persistently low inflation, which the Fed could implement as soon as September.

Some investors were optimistic ahead of Powell’s speech.

“If the Fed turns out to be less dovish than many have been thinking, we could see a rally in the dollar,” Societe Generale (OTC:SCGLY) director of forex Kyosuke Suzuki told Reuters.

The U.S. Dollar Index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies edged down 0.12% to 92.882 by 11:59 PM ET (4:59 AM GMT).

The USD/JPY pair inched up 0.01% to 106ß. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is due to address concerns over his health, and potentially tender his resignation, at a press conference on Friday.

The AUD/USD inched up 0.08% to 0.7237 and the NZD/USD pair edged up 0.15% to 0.6629.

The USD/CNY pair inched down 0.03% to 6.8833. China’s firing four medium-range ballistic missiles into the disputed South China sea on Wednesday, as well as a separate U.S. move on the same day to impose sanctions on a further 24 Chinese companies, ratcheted up tensions between the two countries.

The yuan had enjoyed its strongest levels before Wednesday’s events, after officials from both countries reaffirmed commitment to their phase one trade deal on Monday.

Separately, China’s National Bureau of Statistics said earlier in the day that profits at Chinese industrial firms grew 19.6% year-on-year in July, compared to the 11.50% year-on-year growth recorded in June.

The GBP/USD pair inched up 0.03% to 1.3213.