The U.S. dollar held steady on Thursday as investors await the release of Friday’s U.S. core personal consumption expenditure (PCE) data, the final major inflation data release of the year. Analysts are forecasting annual inflation of 3.3%; the reading’s slowest rate since 2021, thereby signifying that inflation is continuing to cool.
Measuring the greenback against a basket of major currencies, the dollar index remained steady at 102.40, with the index remaining 1% down for the year. The euro remained stable at $1.0941 while the sterling suffered its biggest loss against the dollar in two months after investors considered that the Bank of England may only introduce interest rate cuts by May next year. The dollar-to-pound exchange rate was at 86.78 pence.
The yen rose about 0.2% against the dollar to 143.24 per dollar, however, the Japanese currency is down by more than 8% against the greenback this year as the Bank of Japan continues to keep short-term rates negative.