The US dollar increased slightly on Thursday as investors looked forward to US economic data. The dollar index, which helps measure the currency against six major counterparts, has gone up to 0.14%, reaching 102.89. On the other hand, bitcoin hit a new record high above $73,800.
The highly anticipated US consumer inflation data released on Tuesday did not affect the value of the US dollar, which has remained stable since then. The US dollar is up to 1.5% this year as investors expect rapid rate cuts owing to the strong position of the US economy.
Bitcoin reached a new record high of $73,803, causing a frenzy in the market. Factors such as exchange-traded bitcoin funds and hopes for interest rate cuts by the Fed have increased the cryptocurrency’s value.
According to Francesco Pesole, an FX Strategist at ING, today’s US data release will be significant in a calm market.
He added that this week is transitional, as the country waits for the central bank meeting that is supposed to happen next week to understand the upcoming developments.
The Bank of Japan will decide on interest rates on Tuesday, followed by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday, and the Bank of England on Thursday.
The euro’s value decreased on Thursday by 0.1% to $1.0937, bringing its year-to-date decrease to about 0.9%.
On the other hand, Sterling saw an increase to $1.2806, up 0.6% for the year. There was no change in the US dollar’s value, and has remained stable at 147.9 yen. This is after a decline of 2% in the past two weeks.
The Bank of Japan is probably going to raise interest rates from their negative level at the meeting scheduled for last week, and investors are gearing up for this change.
According to the sources who talked with Reuters, there is a possibility that Japan’s central bank will be ending its negative interest rates if the significant wage increases result from major firms’ ongoing wage talks.
It has been reported that the first outcomes of these discussions are expected to happen on Friday, with several large companies already agreeing to fulfil union demands for higher wages.
The dollar increased by 0.21% compared to the Swedish crown and was reported to be equal to 10.248 crowns. This is after the news that Sweden’s headline inflation slowed more than expected in February. The traders have estimated that the Federal Reserve may introduce rate cuts around June.
Additionally, there has been a 0.9% increase in the market cap of global cryptocurrency, increasing it to $2.75 trillion on the last day.
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