WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. Dollar shed ground on Wednesday with traders assessing Fed officials' comments on interest rates.
Richemont Fed President Tom Barkin said during an event today that the labor market is at historic levels of strength. 'Job gains, unemployment, job openings, initial jobless claims, all of these metrics are very strong and inflation is coming down,' he said. 'So I'm very supportive of being patient, you know, to get to where we need to get.'
Meanwhile, Fed Governor Adriana Kugler indicated she believed the US central bank should pause for a little longer before acting on interest rates.
'At some point, the continued cooling of inflation and labor markets may make it appropriate to reduce the target range for the federal funds rate,' she said. 'I am pleased by the progress on inflation, and optimistic it will continue, but I will be watching the economic data closely to verify the continuation of this progress.'
While CME Group's FedWatch Tool suggests the chances of March rate cut are just 18.5 percent, the Fed is still expected to begin lowering rates sometime in the coming months.
The dollar index dropped to 103.94 and despite recovering to 104.06, remains weak, trailing the previous close by about 0.15%.
Against the Euro, the dollar weakened to 1.0774 from 1.0755, and dropped to 1.2625 against Pound Sterling.
Against the Japanese currency, the dollar firmed, fetching 148.17 yen a unit. The dollar is up slightly against the Aussie at 0.6520. The Swiss franc gained against the dollar, firming to CHF 0.8745. The Loonie strengthened to 1.3463 a U.S. dollar.
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