U.S. Dollar Climbs Amid Fed Waller's Hawkish Remarks

(RTTNews) - Erasing early losses, the U.S. dollar strengthened against its major counterparts in the New York session on Friday, as comments from Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller indicated the likelihood of further monetary policy tightening to bring down inflation.

Waller said that recent data indicate that inflation remained high and the Fed's job is not done.

"Financial conditions have not significantly tightened, the labor market continues to be strong and quite tight, and inflation is far above target, so monetary policy needs to be tightened further," Waller added.

Data from the Commerce Department showed that U.S. retail sales fell much more than expected in March.

The Commerce Department said retail sales slumped by 1.0 percent in March after dipping by a revised 0.2 percent in February.

Economists had expected retail sales to decline by 0.4 percent, matching the decrease originally reported for the previous month.

The greenback climbed to 2-day highs of 133.43 against the yen and 1.2439 against the pound, from an early low of 132.16 and more than a 10-month low of 1.2546, respectively. The currency is seen finding resistance around 136.00 against the yen and 1.21 against the pound.

The greenback advanced to 0.8926 against the franc and 1.1018 against the euro, off an early low of 0.8866 and more than a 1-year low of 1.1075, respectively. The next possible resistance for the greenback is seen around 0.92 against the franc and 1.08 against the euro.

The greenback rose to 0.6251 against the kiwi, 1.3349 against the loonie and 0.6752 against the aussie, reversing from an early low of 0.6314, 2-month low of 1.3300 and a 3-week low of 0.6805, respectively. Next near term resistance for the currency is likely seen around 0.61 against the kiwi, 1.35 against the loonie and 0.66 against the aussie.