Forex – Dollar Remains Supported Amid Fed Leader Speculation

Investing.com – The dollar remained supported against a basket of the other major currencies on Wednesday as the search for the chairman of the Federal Reserve narrowed.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was little changed at 93.39 by 03:43 AM ET (07:43 AM GMT).

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he will soon choose a Federal Reserve chairman, having narrowed his search to five finalists. He is expected to make a decision before his trip to Asia, which begins November 3.

The finalists are current Fed Chair Janet Yellen, who is due to meet with Trump on Thursday; Fed governor Jerome Powell; former Fed governor Kevin Warsh; Trump’s top economic adviser Gary Cohn and Stanford University economist John Taylor.

The dollar has been buoyed in recent sessions by speculation that Trump could pick a more hawkish candidate than Yellen, whose term is due to end in February.

The dollar pushed higher against the yen, with USD/JPY rising 0.23% to 112.45.

The euro was steady, with EUR/USD last at 1.1763.

Sterling was a touch lower, with GBP/USD at 1.3178 having fallen 0.5% on Tuesday following dovish remarks by Bank of England policymakers.

The BoE’s new deputy governor indicated that he did not support the view that interest rates probably need to rise soon, and another official said her support for a rate hike was “very contingent on the data”.

The remarks came after data earlier in the day showed that UK inflation rose to the highest level in five-and-a-half years in September, adding to pressure on the BoE.

Investors were looking ahead to the latest UK jobs report later Wednesday, which was expected to show that wage growth is continuing to lag inflation.

Sterling was almost unchanged against the euro, with EUR/GBP at 0.8924.