(Adds Bullard comment, paragraph 3, Goldman rate rise expectations, paragraph 8, Schnabel comment, paragraph 20; updates prices; adds chart)By Rae Wee
(Adds Bullard comment, paragraph 3, Goldman rate rise expectations, paragraph 8, Schnabel comment, paragraph 20; updates prices; adds chart)
By Rae Wee and Harry Robertson
SINGAPORE/LONDON, Feb 17 (Reuters) – The dollar rose to a six-week high on Friday as strong U.S. economic data and comments from Federal Reserve officials led to traders betting more interest rate rises are coming.
Data on Thursday showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, and that monthly producer prices increased by the most in seven months in January.
St Louis Fed President James Bullard said on Thursday he backed further rate increases that would take borrowing costs to around 5.25% to 5.5%.
The Fed’s target range currently stands at 4.5% to 4.75%, having risen from 0% to 0.25% in March 2022.
Analysts said the data and Bullard’s tough tone boosted the dollar, sending the euro to its lowest level since Jan. 6 at $1.063. It was last down 0.35% at $1.064.
The U.S. dollar index rose to 104.24 earlier in the session, its highest since early January. It was last up 0.12% to 103.93 and was on track for a third straight week of gains.
Economists at Goldman Sachs on Thursday increased their expectations for Fed interest rate increases this year.
Having previously expected two more, they said they now expected three consecutive 25 bp rises, in March, May and June. That would take rates to 5.25% to 5.5%.
“In light of the stronger growth and firmer inflation news, we are adding another 25 bp rate hike to our Fed forecast,” chief economist Jan Hatzius told clients in a note.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar rose 0.68% to 134.85, the highest since mid-December. It was on track for a weekly gain of roughly 2.5%, its largest rise since June.
Japan’s government picked academic Kazuo Ueda as its new central bank chief on expectations he can help keep inflation on target and sustain economic growth and wage increases, finance minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Friday.
Sterling was down 0.53% to $1.192, its lowest since Jan. 6. That was despite British consumers unexpectedly increasing their shopping in January.
The Swiss franc was also caught up in the dollar’s surge. The dollar rose 0.64% to 0.931 francs, its highest level since mid-January.
“The U.S. economy, from recent data, shows that it’s still healthy. It doesn’t seem to be going into a recession any time soon,” said Tina Teng, market analyst at CMC Markets.
“The markets are pricing for higher-for-longer rates.”
Australia’s dollar was last down 0.77% to $0.683, its lowest since Jan. 6.
Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields have surged as investors have raised their expectations for where interest rates will end up. Yields move inversely to prices.
The yield on the two-year U.S. Treasury hit a more than three-month high of 4.718% on Friday.
European Central Bank (ECB) officials have also made clear that they expect euro zone rates to keep rising.
“There is a risk that inflation proves to be more persistent than is currently priced by financial markets,” German ECB official Isabel Schnabel told Bloomberg on Friday.
Germany’s benchmark 2-year yield rose to its highest since October 2008 at 2.941%.
(Reporting by Rae Wee and Harry Robertson; Editing by Sonali Paul and Jamie Freed)
finance.yahoo.com