The dollar rose against most major currencies during trading today, Wednesday, in the wake of the release of inflation data and its evaluation by investors to determine its impact on the Federal Reserve’s decision expected next week.
Government data issued today showed that the consumer price index rose by 3.7% in August on an annual basis, after reaching 3.2% in July, which is higher than expectations of 3.6%. Compared to the previous month, prices rose by 0.6%, the largest increase since June 2022.
Core inflation - which excludes food and energy prices - increased by 0.3% in August on a monthly basis, while slowing on an annual basis to 4.3%, which is the smallest increase for the index since September 2021 from 4.7% recorded in July.
It is worth noting that the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates 11 times since March 2022 in an attempt to return inflation to its 2% target.
This data comes a week before the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting, and the core inflation reading is likely to encourage officials to hold rates unchanged, while discussing whether there is a need to raise them in November or December.
US President Joe Biden commented on these data, saying that inflation in the United States is witnessing a decline to levels before the Corona pandemic.
In terms of trading, the dollar index rose by 22:44 GMT by 0.1% to 104.7 points, and recorded the highest level at 104.9 points and the lowest level at 104.5 points.
Japanese Yen
The yen rose against the US dollar by 22:59 GMT by 0.1% to 147.3.
Government data revealed that the producer price index in Japan rose by 3.2% in August, compared to expectations for a rise of 3.3%.
Sterling pound
The pound sterling settled against the US dollar by 23:00 GMT at the level of 1.2489.
The monthly reading of the gross domestic product in Britain revealed a contraction of 0.5% last July, compared to expectations of a contraction of 0.2%.
