As markets digested cautious statements from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and awaited a crucial employment report that may impact the future for U.S. interest rates, the dollar began the week on a wobbly note on Monday. After hitting the $40,000 mark for the first time in more than a year, Bitcoin took front stage in the Asian morning.
Powell stated on Friday that the benchmark overnight interest rate was “well into restrictive territory,” indicating that it was evident that U.S. monetary policy was slowing the economy as anticipated. once while Powell reaffirmed that the Fed is ready to tighten policy once more if necessary, markets were certain that the cycle of rate hikes was finished. According to the CME’s FedWatch tool, markets were pricing in a 60% possibility of a rate cut by the March meeting, up from 21% just over a week earlier.
The U.S. dollar index, which compares the value of the dollar to six important rivals, was last trading near Friday’s closing of 103.28. The’most important risk event’ this week, according to Kyle Rodda, senior financial market analyst at Capital.com, is non-farm payrolls, as U.S. data continues to be the ‘dominant driver’ of those currencies. On Friday, the much anticipated November jobs report is expected to be made public.
