NEW YORK, March 7 (Xinhua) — The U.S. dollar rose sharply on Tuesday, supported by expectations of more rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, rose 1.2 percent to 105.5995.
In late New York trading, the euro was down to US$1.0552 from US$1.0675 in the previous session, and the British pound fell to US$1.1831 from US$1.2017 in the previous session.
The US dollar bought 137.09 Japanese yen, higher than 136.03 Japanese yen from the previous session. The US dollar rose to 0.9415 Swiss francs from 0.9320 Swiss francs and it rose to 1.3758 Canadian dollars from 1.3617 Canadian dollars. The US dollar increased to SEK 10.7307 from SEK 10.4594.
The above market reactions came as recent comments from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell raised the possibility of more aggressive rate hikes.
In his testimony to the US Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, Powell said the Fed would have to raise interest rates to higher levels if economic statistics were strong.
He also noted that the Fed was prepared to take bigger steps if it felt such measures were necessary to fight inflation.
“If all the data were to indicate that faster tightening is warranted, we would be prepared to increase the pace of rate hikes,” Powell said.
Source: sn.dk