Dollar Loses Ground Against Major Counterparts Ahead Of Crucial Data

(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar shed ground on Wednesday with investors looking ahead to some crucial economic data this week, and the upcoming Federal Reserve's policy meeting for clues about the central bank's interest-rate trajectory.

Reports on weekly jobless claims, durable goods orders and fourth quarter GDP are due this week.

In economic news today, The S&P Global US Composite PMI surged to 52.3 in January from the previous month's reading of 50.9, marking the biggest increase since June 2023.

The S&P Global US Manufacturing PMI unexpectedly jumped to 50.3 in January 2024 from 47.9 in December 2023, preliminary estimates showed. The reading was the highest since October 2022. Meanwhile, the Services PMI surged to a 7-month high of 52.9 in January, according to preliminary estimates.

Meanwhile, the Canadian central bank left its interest rate unchanged, and said the bank's governing council is "still concerned about risks to the outlook for inflation, particularly the persistence in underlying inflation."

The European Central Bank is scheduled to announce its monetary policy decision on Thursday. The central bank is widely expected to hold rates unchanged. The bank's statement and the post-meeting press conference by ECB President Christine Lagarde will be in focus for clues about the bank's interest-rate trajectory.

The dollar index, which dropped to 102.77 around mid morning, recovered to 103.27, but still remained well below the flat line.

Against the Euro, the dollar weakened to 1.0887 from 1.0855. Against Pound Sterling, the dollar eased to 1.2726, losing from Tuesday's close of 1.2687.

The dollar weakened against the Japanese currency, dropping to 147.51 yen from 148.38. Against the Aussie, the dollar was little changed at 0.6578.

The dollar weakened against Swiss franc, dropping to CHF 0.8628 from CHF 0.8702. The loonie, which firmed to 1.3435 against the dollar earlier in the session, weakened to 1.3525 later on in the day.