U.S. Dollar Roughly Flat After Seeing Overnight Strength

(RTTNews) - After seeing considerable strength overnight, the value of the U.S. dollar has shown a notable pullback over the course of trading on Friday.

The U.S. dollar index is currently up just 0.01 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 103.87 after reaching its highest intraday level in over a month.

The greenback is trading at 134.19 yen versus the 133.94 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Thursday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.0694 compared to yesterday's $1.0674.

Overnight, the dollar benefitted from ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates following this week's batch of economic data.

Reports on consumer and producer price inflation and retail sales have led to worries the Federal Reserve could raise rates higher than currently anticipated.

Recent comments from Fed officials have added to the concerns, with some suggesting the central bank could raise rates by another 50 basis points next month.

The subsequent pullback by the dollar came as treasury yields turned lower despite the concerns about the outlook for interest rates, with the benchmark ten-year yield pulling back off its highest levels in well over a month.

On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing a modest decrease in U.S. import prices in the month of January.

The Labor Department said import prices dipped by 0.2 percent in January after edging down by a revised 0.1 percent in December.

Economists had expected import prices to slip by 0.2 percent compared to the 0.4 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the report said export prices climbed by 0.8 percent in January after plunging by a revised 3.2 percent in December.

The increase surprised economists, who had expected export prices to edge down by 0.2 percent compared to the 2.6 percent slump originally reported for the previous month.