The Dollar Climbs Highest in over Two Weeks

The Dollar Climbs Highest in over Two Weeks

The dollar was up on Wednesday morning in Asia as concerns over U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s comments about increasing interest rates.

The U.S. Dollar Index traces the greenback versus a basket of other currencies was high 0.31% to 91.210.
The USD/JPY pair was steady at 109.32.
The AUD/USD pair elevated 0.35% to 0.7732.
The NZD/USD pair gained 0.38% to 0.77196.

The New Zealand dollar was supported by local employment data, including the employment change that increased 0.6% quarterly during the first quarter of 2021.

The USD/CNY pair was steady at 6.4735.

The GBP/USD pair inched up 0.15% to 1.3906 as investors expect the Bank of England policy decisions that will be delivered on Thursday.

This jump in the dollar came in the wake of comments from U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen inferring the requirement of increased rates in the future.

Yellen said at a virtual meeting on Tuesday “It may be that interest rates will have to rise somewhat to make sure that our economy doesn’t overheat,” “Even though the additional spending is relatively small relative to the size of the economy, it could cause some very reasonable increases in interest rates.”

Yellen later tried to reverse the importance of these remarks, but the mere mention of U.S. tightening frightened a market that has become so affected by the Federal Reserve’s monetary stimulus.

So far, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has disputed the labor market is still far short of where it needs to be to start talking of tapering asset buying.

Three more Fed officials are speaking later on Wednesday providing the opportunity for further market-moving comments.