The US dollar jumped to its highest level in nearly two years, yesterday, Wednesday, as the dollar index, which measures the value of the green currency against a basket of six competing currencies, rose to 99.778, It is its strongest level since late May 2020, and it was traded in late trading, up 0.17% at 99.644.
The dollar's rise came after the minutes of the latest US Federal Reserve meeting boosted expectations for multiple rate hikes, each by half a percentage point, to control a jump in inflation.< /p>
The minutes of the Federal Reserve's March meeting showed that monetary policy officials considered that large rate increases would be appropriate at its upcoming meetings, especially if inflation pressures intensified.
The dollar maintained its gains against the Japanese currency, and was trading in late trading, up 0.1% to 123.78 Japanese yen.
There was little change in the euro against the dollar after it fell to its lowest level in a month due to the possibility of new Western sanctions against Russia and its exposure to more pressure from the upcoming presidential elections in France .
The European currency earlier benefited from a strengthening in eurozone producer prices, which jumped 31.4% on an annual basis in February.
The euro traded in late trading at $1.0896, after briefly touching a one-month low of $1.0874.
