US Dollar Rises Off a Three-Month Low on Expectations of Less Aggressive Rate Cuts

After several days of trading weakly, the US dollar picked up from a three-month low on Wednesday as investors lowered their anticipation for aggressive rate cuts by the Fed in July. On Tuesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell asserted that the central bank’s decisions were not influenced by President Trump’s calls for rate cuts, offering much needed relief to markets about the health of the US dollar.

The likelihood of a rate cut in July remains high, but now investors are expecting a 0.25% rate cut instead of a 0.5% cut next month. At the time of writing, the dollar index DXY is trading at around 96.29 after falling below the 96.00 level previously.

Meanwhile, the focus now shifts from the Fed’s comments to the upcoming G20 summit happening at the end of this week. Markets are waiting to see how the meeting between Trump and Xi Jinping goes, and if US and China can make some much needed progress on the trade war. Before that, the US GDP releasing tomorrow can also cause some moves in the dollar.