Dollar Extends Gains Against Major Counterparts

(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar firmed against most of its major counterparts on Wednesday as traders digested the minutes from the Federal Reserve's most recent policy meeting, and continued to assess the potential impact of higher tariffs proposed by President Donald Trump.

Trump said he plans to impose tariffs on U.S. imports of automobiles, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, adding that the 25% tariffs could be imposed as early as April 2nd and warned the duties could "go substantially higher over a course of a year."

The minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting revealed officials want to see further progress on inflation before they consider resuming lowering interest rates.

The minutes also reiterated officials believe a "careful approach" in considering additional adjustments to the stance of monetary policy is appropriate given the high degree of uncertainty.

Factors mentioned by participants as supporting a "careful approach" included the reduced downside risks to the outlook for the labor market and economic activity and increased upside risks to the outlook for inflation, the Fed said.

Participants said the upside risks to the inflation outlook partly reflected the possible effects of potential changes in trade and immigration policy.

In U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department's data showed housing starts plunged by 9.8% to an annual rate of 1.366 million in January after soaring by 16.1% to an upwardly revised rate of 1.515 million in December.

Economists had expected housing starts to tumble by 6.6% to an annual rate of 1.400 million from the 1.499 million originally reported for the previous month.

The report said building permits inched up by 0.1% to an annual rate of 1.483 million in January after falling by 0.7% to a slightly downwardly revised rate of 1.482 million in December. Building permits were expected to slump by 1.6% to an annual rate of 1.460 million from the 1.483 million originally reported for the previous month.

The dollar index, which climbed to 107.38 ahead of the release of Fed minutes, eased a bit to 107.19 thereafter, but still remained positive with a gain of about 0.13%.

Against the Euro, the dollar firmed to 1.0426 from previous closing value of 1.0446, and strengthened to 1.2586 against Pound Sterling from 1.2614.

Against the Japanese currency, the dollar weakened to 151.50 yen a unit, from 152.06 yen. The dollar gained marginally against the Aussie at 0.6346.

The Swiss franc weakened a bit against the greenback at CHF 0.9045, while the Loonie slipped to C$ 1.4240 a unit of the U.S. currency.