Investing.com – The US dollar held steady in early trading Thursday in Europe near two-month highs as traders digested progress on the US debt ceiling bill, data from several Federal Reserve spokespeople and data on Chinese manufacturing activity.
As of 09:55 AM ET (0955 GMT), the currency was flat against a basket of nearly six other major currencies at 104.240, just below its two-month high on Wednesday.
Confidence in risky assets got a boost Thursday after a private survey showed that China grew more-than-expected in May, giving hope of a recovery in the country’s main growth engine, after a sustained slowdown earlier this week.
This helped push the pair down 0.1% to 7.1072, with the yuan recovering after hitting a six-month low, although doubts remain about the recovery of the world’s second-largest economy as today’s survey showed a marginal improvement in activity.
The safe-haven dollar also moved away from recent highs after the US House of Representatives voted in favor of a bill to suspend the debt ceiling on Wednesday.
The deal is now heading to the Senate for approval, but the possibility of a default by the world’s largest economy appears to be fading fast.
Attention now turns to officials’ monetary policy plans as the next meeting approaches.
The possibility of a pause in rate hikes in June received a big boost on Wednesday, after the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said he was willing to pause interest rate hikes next month to assess the data that arrives.
“Not raising interest rates at the next meeting will allow the committee to know more data before making decisions on the degree of monetary tightening,” Harker explains.
On the other hand, the pair decreased by 0.1%, to the level of 1.0680, after its monthly rise of 0.8% recorded in April, which represents an improvement compared to the decline of 2.4% from the previous month, although it continued to represent negative indicators. 4.3%.
However, attention will be focused on the May reading, which is published during this day. Figures from many countries have shown that inflationary pressures are easing, so there is a possibility that the annualized forecast of 7.0% for May will eventually be lower.
This would support the opinion of the moderate members of the Board of Directors, who support an immediate halt to raising interest rates.
The pair fell to 1.2439 after data from the Nationwide Mortgage Association indicated that it fell again in May by 3.4% annually.
The pair rose 0.1% to 0.6506, propelled by better-than-expected numbers from the US, while the yen rose 0.3% to 139.75, although the yen stood above six-month lows against the dollar.
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