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US dollar consolidates as bulls take a breather

  • DXY trades flat in sleepy Asian trade and consolidates recent bullish phase.
  • Fed officials are viewing a spike in inflation as transitory.

The US dollar is moving sideways into the closing sessions for Friday. DXY is trading at 90.73 at the time of writing in a tight 90.7200/8030 range.

There are prospects of a weekly gain, however, as traders price in a faster than expected rise of inflation in contrary to what the Federal Reserve bank might have expected. 

This means that there are prospects that the Fed's hand could be forced to hike interest rates sooner.

Meanwhile, a strong reading on US wholesale prices and jobless claims on Thursday failed to spark a renewed uptick in Treasury yields, but it did support the greenback. 

Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits dropped to a 14-month low of 473,000.

There is a side of the market, however, that believes that the Federal Reserve will stay the course with the lower for longer script with officials viewing a spike in inflation as transitory.

In data overnight, the US Producer Price Index climbed 0.6% in April after surging 1.0% in March. In the 12 months through April, the PPI shot up 6.2% which was the highest year-on-year rise since the series was revamped in 2010 and followed a 4.2% jump in March, Reuters reported. 

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Ross J Burland

Ross J Burland, born in England, UK, is a sportsman at heart. He played Rugby and Judo for his county, Kent and the South East of England Rugby team.

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