Dollar jumps as Fed interest rate hike seen nearer – 1 March, 2017
The dollar hit a seven-week high on Wednesday after hawkish comments from two Federal Reserve officials late on Tuesday increased expectations that the U.S. central bank is closer to raising interest rates.
New York Fed President William Dudley, a permanent voter on the U.S. central bank’s open market committee, said the case for tightening monetary policy “has become a lot more compelling.”
John Williams, President of the San Francisco Fed, said a rate increase was very much on the table for serious consideration at the March meeting given full employment and accelerating inflation.
“Williams and Dudley are very strongly signalling the fact that March is a live meeting, and that’s occurring against the backdrop of consistently strong (economic) numbers,” said Richard Franulovich, a senior currency strategist at Westpac Banking Corporation in New York.
The Fed officials’ comments sent Treasury yields higher, and the U.S. dollar jumped 0.8 percent against a basket of six major currencies, its highest since Jan. 11.
Source: Reuters