Dollar Stays Firm Against Major Rivals

(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar stayed firm against most of its major counterparts on Wednesday amid bets the Federal Reserve will continue to stay a bit aggressive with regard to interest rate hikes in the coming months.

A report from the Conference Board showed its consumer confidence index spiked to 108.3 in December from an upwardly revised 101.4 in November. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 101.0 from the 100.2 originally reported for the previous month.

With the much bigger than expected surge, the consumer confidence index reached its highest level since April 2022.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors released a separate report showing existing home sales dove by 7.7% to an annual rate of 4.09 million in November after plunging by 5.9% to a rate of 4.43 million in October. Economists had expected existing home sales to tumble by 5.2% to a rate of 4.20 million.

Existing home sales decreased for the tenth consecutive month and are down by 35.4% compared to the same month a year ago.

The dollar index, which briefly fell into the red in the U.S. session early this morning, climbed to 104.38 a little past noon, and was last seen hovering around 104.20, up 0.23% from the previous close.

Against the Euro, the dollar firmed to 1.0591, but pared some gains and eased to 1.0612, but remains positive with a modest gain.

The dollar strengthened to 1.2084 against Pound Sterling, gaining from 1.2185.

Against the Japanese currency, the dollar is stronger, fetching 132.35 yen a unit, compared with 131.70 yen on Tuesday.

The Aussie is stronger against the dollar, with the AUD/USD pair firming to 0.6708 from 0.6678.

Against Swiss franc, the dollar is little changed at CHF 0.9265.

The dollar is slightly weak against the Loonie at C$1.3605, easing from the previous close of C$1.3613. Data released by Statistics Canada showed Canada's annual inflation rate came in at 6.8% in November of 2022, easing slightly from the 6.9% in the prior month. On a monthly basis, Canadian consumer prices rose by 0.1% in November, slowing from a 0.7% gain in the prior month.

Core inflation rate in Canada held steady at 5.8% in November of 2022, the same as in October. Compared to the previous month, core consumer prices were flat.