US Dollar hangs closer to 3-year lows, just above 90.00 handle

The US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback performance against a basket of currencies, resumed with its bearish slide and dropped back closer to three-year lows touched earlier this week. 

Following a goodish rebound on Wednesday, led by the Fed's Beige Book that reaffirmed prospects for at least three Fed rate hikes in 2018, growing concerns over a possible US government shutdown triggered a fresh wave of broad-based USD weakness. 

The selling pressure remained unabated following Thursday's mixed US economic data and the recent upsurge in the US Treasury bond yields also did little to ease the prevailing strong bearish sentiment surrounding the buck. 

Another underlying factor behind the recent USD weakness has been hawkish comments from global central bankers, including the European Central Bank. With the Federal Reserve no longer the only central bank to raise interest rates, investors' focus would be on how other central banks would be catching up with normalization of the monetary policy. 

Meanwhile, the oversold technical picture, coupled with the jawboning by several ECB members, which could trigger a corrective slide in the EUR/USD major, now seems to contribute towards increasing the prospects for a near-term rebound.