NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The dollar inched lower against some rivals Tuesday as a lack of major U.S. economic data shifted the emphasis to the broader monetary-policy landscape across the globe. AFP/Getty Images Investors looked ahead to a speech on Tuesday evening from outgoing Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, as well as retail sales, consumer-price data and Fed minutes due Wednesday. The Fed currently buys $85 billion in mortgage and Treasury debt each month in an effort to boost the economy, and those purchases have been understood to weigh on the dollar. While the exact timing is unclear, the central bank is widely expected to begin to slow those purchases eventually. At the same time, there’s still a likelihood that the European Central bank and the Bank of Japan might need to take further actions, said Marc Chandler, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman. “I don’t see anything on the near-term horizon that’s going to change that view,” he said. The euro EURUSD +0.23% edged up to $1.3528 in recent trade from Monday’s $1.3506, while the dollar USDJPY +0.21% rose to ¥100.20 from ¥99.90 late Monday. ECB Vice President Vitor Constancio on Tuesday said that while so-called quantitative easing is still a possibility, the central bank has not discussed how quantitative easing would be implemented on a technical level, according to reports. His remarks come nearly a week after Peter Praet, a member of the ECB’s executive board, told The Wall Street Journal that asset purchases and negative interest rates were still options. The ICE dollar index DXY -0.09% , a measure of the U.S. unit against six other currencies, declined to 80.709 from 80.774 late Monday. The WSJ Dollar Index XX:BUXX -0.08% was slightly lower at 73.15 versus 73.19. Credit Agricole analysts warned of possible downside for the greenback. “We suspect that in the very short run, the dollar is likely to remain vulnerable to a deeper correction against both developed and emerging-market currencies, given the data calendar is unlikely to provide impetus to drive U.S. yields higher,” they wrote early Tuesday. Still, they saw any such correction as likely to be short-lived, with the possibility that investors would “shift back into the dollar ahead of [U.S.] November payrolls,” due on Dec. 6. Click to Play Comments from U.S. officials on bitcoin At a Monday Senate hearing, Jennifer Shasky Calvery of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and Mythili Raman of the Department of Justice Criminal Division discuss the matter of virtual currencies such as bitcoin. (Photo: AP) In other trade, the British pound GBPUSD +0.07% rose to $1.6114 from $1.6098 late Monday. The Australian dollar AUDUSD +0.48% gained to 94.15 U.S. cents from 93.65 U.S. cents late Monday. The Reserve Bank of Australia issued minutes from its Nov. 5 meeting, which affirmed that the central bank was still open to further interest-rate cuts if needed. Zhou Xiaochuan, head of the People’s Bank of China, said the bank will slowly broaden the yuan’s daily trading band. “China also clearly wants the yuan to become a competitive medium of exchange with the dollar, and this announcement is just the latest in a series of policy moves to encourage this development in global capital markets,” said Boris Schlossberg, managing director of foreign-exchange strategy at BK Asset Management, in a note.
Posted on: Tue, 19 Nov 2013 21:17:45 +0000
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