Dollar Rises Against Major Counterparts On Rate Hike Bets

(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar climbed higher against is major counterparts on Friday following hawkish comments from several Fed officials, including St. Louis Fed President James Bullard.

In remarks at an event hosted by Greater Louisville Inc., St. Louis Fed President James Bullard suggested the central bank's aggressive interest rate hikes have had "only limited effects on observed inflation."

Bullard said the Fed will need to continue increasing interest rates to reach a level that could be considered "sufficiently restrictive."

In U.S. economic news today, a report from the National Association of Realtors showed existing home sales plummeted by 5.9% to an annual rate of 4.43 million in October after slumping by 1.5% to a rate of 4.71 million in September.

Existing home sales decreased for the ninth consecutive month, resulting in a 28.4% nosedive compared to the same month a year ago.

A separate report released by the Conference Board showed a much bigger than expected decrease by its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators in the month of October.

The Conference Board said its leading economic slumped by 0.8% in October after falling by a revised 0.5% in September. Economists had expected the index to decrease by 0.4%, matching the drop originally reported for the previous month.

The dollar index climbed to 107.01, gaining about 0.3% over Thursday's closing level, recovering well after having dropped to 106.34 in the Asian session.

Against the Euro, the dollar has firmed to 1.0321 from 1.0366.

The dollar weakened to 1.1952 against Pound Sterling in the Asian session, but has recovered to 1.1885, trimming its loss to just around 0.1%.

Against the Japanese currency, the dollar has strengthened to fetch 140.39 yen as against 140.20 yen Thursday evening.

The dollar is stronger against the Aussie at 0.6673, gaining from 0.6688.

Against Swiss franc, the dollar is up at CHF0.9547, firming from CHF0.9520. The Loonie is weak as well against the dollar, having drifted down to C$1.3386.