The U.S. dollar languished near two-month lows in early European trade Monday as weak economic data support the idea that the U.S. Federal Reserve may be near the end of its rate-hiking cycle.<\/p>\n
At 02:55 ET (06:55 GMT), the\u00a0Dollar Index<\/a><\/span>, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, edged just higher at 101.295, just above a fresh two-month low of 101.140 hit earlier in the session.<\/p>\n The dollar started last month on a firm footing on expectations sticky inflation would prompt the\u00a0Federal Reserve<\/a><\/span>\u00a0to take interest rates higher than previously thought.<\/p>\n However, the failure of two regional U.S. banks in March tempered those expectations, and soft economic data has added to the growing belief that the U.S. central bank may soon stop increasing interest rates, a move which is dollar bearish.<\/p>\n U.S.\u00a0job openings<\/a><\/span>\u00a0dropped to their lowest level in nearly two years in February, data showed Tuesday, and this followed on from Monday\u2019s Institute of Supply Management’s\u00a0manufacturing purchasing managers index<\/a><\/span>\u00a0falling to a 21-month low in February.<\/p>\n Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President\u00a0Loretta Mester<\/a><\/span>\u00a0indicated on Tuesday that the central bank likely has more rate rises ahead of it, seeing the fed funds rate moving above 5%.<\/p>\n However, with the Fed raising rates by a quarter percentage point, to between 4.75% and 5%, in March, this could mean only one more hike of 25 basis points before pausing.<\/p>\n The\u00a0European Central Bank<\/a><\/span>, on the other hand, potentially could hike by 50 basis points in early May, with Governing Council member Robert Holzmann stating earlier this week that such a move is \u201cstill on the cards\u201d.<\/p>\n This \u201cserves as a reminder that the ECB lags the Fed in its tightening cycle and that the ECB will be a lot slower to ease policy,\u201d said analysts at ING, in a note.<\/p>\n EUR\/USD<\/a><\/span>\u00a0traded 0.1% lower at 1.0948, just below the two-month peak it hit on Tuesday, helped by\u00a0German industrial orders<\/a><\/span>\u00a0soaring 4.8% in February driven by strong growth in the vehicle construction sector.<\/p>\n \u201cOverall we suspect that the market will be reluctant to chase EUR\/USD above 1.10 yet given concerns about the regional US banking system. But a higher EUR\/USD certainly looks the direction of travel for the rest of the year,\u201d ING added.<\/p>\n GBP\/USD<\/a><\/span>\u00a0fell 0.1% to 1.2487, slipping from Tuesday\u2019s ten-month high,\u00a0AUD\/USD<\/a><\/span>\u00a0fell 0.4% to 0.6727, while\u00a0USD\/JPY<\/a><\/span>\u00a0fell 0.1% to 131.56 after data also showed that Japan’s\u00a0service sector<\/a><\/span>\u00a0grew at a higher-than-expected pace in March, largely offsetting a decline in\u00a0manufacturing\u00a0<\/a><\/span>activity.<\/p>\n NZD\/USD<\/a><\/span>\u00a0rose 0.6% to 0.6348 after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand lifted its benchmark\u00a0interest rate<\/a><\/span>\u00a0by a bigger-than-expected 50 basis points, and flagged more action against high inflation.<\/p>\n Source: https:\/\/www.investing.com\/news\/forex-news\/dollar–remains-weak-as-fed-nears-end-of-hiking-cycle-3049190<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The U.S. dollar languished near two-month lows in early European trade Monday as weak economic data support the idea that the U.S. Federal Reserve may be near the end of its rate-hiking cycle. At 02:55 ET (06:55 GMT), the\u00a0Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, edged just higher at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpautop"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"2.10.10","language":"fr","enabled_languages":["en","nl","es","sv","fr"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"nl":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"es":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"sv":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"fr":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"yoast_head":"\r\n