Dollar Sheds Ground Against Major Rivals Ahead Of Powell's Jackson Hole Speech
(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar drifted lower on Thursday, coming off near two-decade highs, as traders looked ahead to Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole symposium on Friday for clues on interest rates.
Powell is widely expected to reiterate the central bank's hawkish stance, given the expectations that inflation in the U.S. will be persistent and it will take time to contain it.
Data from the Labor Department showed the U.S. economy contracted an annualized 0.6% in the second quarter, following a 1.6% drop a quarter earlier.
Personal consumption expenditure increased 1.5 percent in the second quarter, after rising 1.8% in the previous quarter. Year-on-year, personal consumption expenditure rose 1.9 percent in the second quarter.
Meanwhile, data from the Labor Department showed initial jobless claims dropped to 243,000 in the week ended August 20th, from a revised 245,000 claims a week earlier.
The dollar index dropped to 107.99 in the Asian session, but recovered some lost ground as the day progressed. It was hovering around 108.40 a little while ago, down more than 0.25% from the previous close.
Against the Euro, the dollar was slightly weak at 0.9972 compared with the previous close of 0.9967.
The European Central Bank's minutes of the latest policy meeting showed the bank is set to continue with interest rate hikes to combat soaring inflation.
The dollar has weakened against the Japanese currency, fetching 136.51 yen a unit, down from Wednesday's 137.13 yen.
The dollar has weakened against Pound Sterling, trading at $1.1834, easing from $1.1795.
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