NEW YORK, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) — The U.S. dollar strengthened in late trade on Thursday, driven by hawkish messages from the Federal Reserve.
The Fed on Wednesday raised interest rates by 50 basis points and set the target range for the federal funds rate at 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent, the highest level in 15 years.
At a news conference after the announcement, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank still had “some way to go,” and the Fed’s updated economic projections showed policymakers saw benchmark interest rates rising to a median of 5.1 percent in 2023, up from 4.6 percent forecast already in September.
Currency traders also looked to other central banks as the Bank of England and the European Central Bank both raised interest rates by 50 basis points on Thursday.
The dollar index, which measures the dollar against six major peers, jumped 0.76 percent to 104.5570 in late New York trading on Thursday.
The euro was down at US$1.0634 from US$1.0669 in the previous session, and the British pound fell to US$1.2190 from US$1.2400 in the previous session.
The US dollar bought 137.73 Japanese yen, higher than 135.34 Japanese yen from the previous session. The US dollar was up to 0.9282 Swiss francs from 0.9244 Swiss francs, and it rose to 1.3650 Canadian dollars from 1.3551 Canadian dollars. The US dollar was up to SEK 10.3259 from SEK 10.1902.
Source: sn.dk