U.S. Dollar Rises Amid U.S. Fed Rate Hike Speculation

(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar strengthened against other major currencies in the European session on Thursday, as the remarks from Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari signaled a rate hike speculation among the traders.

In an event hosted by the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, Neel Kashkari said that the U.S. central bank is likely to raise its rates further and keep them high for some time to bring inflation back down to 2 percent.

"If the economy is fundamentally much stronger than we realized, on the margin, that would tell me rates probably have to go a little bit higher, and then be held higher for longer to cool things off," he said.

In the Asian trading today, the U.S. dollar held steady against its major rivals.

In the European trading now, the U.S. dollar rose to more than 6-month highs of 1.0569 against the euro and 1.2170 against the pound, from early lows of 1.0593 and 1.2215, respectively. If the greenback extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 1.04 against the euro and 1.17 against the pound.

Against the yen and the Swiss franc, the greenback advanced to nearly a 1-year high of 149.19 and nearly a 6-month high of 0.9151 from early lows of 148.70 and 0.9119, respectively. The greenback may test resistance of 151.00 against the yen and 0.93 against the franc.

Against the Australian and the New Zealand dollars, the greenback climbed to a 5-day high of 0.6388 and a 4-day high of 0.5936 from early lows of 0.6431 and 0.5974, respectively. On the upside, 0.62 against the Aussies and 0.57 against the Kiwi are seen as the next resistance levels for the greenback.

Moving away from an early 4-day low of 1.3449 against the Canadian dollar, the greenback advanced to a 5-day high of 1.3500. The next possible resistance level for the greenback is seen around the 1.36 region.

Looking ahead, building permits for August, U.S. S&P/Case -Shiller house price index for July, U.S. CB consumer confidence for September, U.S. new homes sales data for August, and U.S. Richmond Fed manufacturing index for September, U.S. Dallas Fed services index for September, Canada manufacturing sales for August and wholesale sales data for August are slated for release in the New York session.

At 1:30 pm ET, Federal Reserve Board Governor Michelle Bowman will give welcome remarks on Post-Pandemic Challenges and Strategies for Addressing Rental Housing Affordability before the "Fed Communities - Keys to Opportunity in the Housing Market: Research on Strategies for Preserving and Expanding Rental Housing Affordability" event, in Washington D.C., U.S.