The US dollar was mixed today, falling versus commodity currencies, but staying flat or gaining versus majors. There were plenty of various fundamentals that were affecting the greenback.
Yesterday, Federal Reserve officials made comments, which suggested that the Fed does not plan to ease its monetary policy aggressively. St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard dismissed the idea of a 50 basis point interest rate cut in July, saying:
Just sitting here today, I think 50 basis points would be overdone. I donât think the situation really calls for that, but I would be willing to go 25.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell said during a speech:
Many FOMC participants judge that the case for somewhat more accommodative policy has strengthened. But we are also mindful that monetary policy should not overreact to any individual data point or short-term swing in sentiment. Doing so would risk adding even more uncertainty to the outlook.
Today, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin signaled that the United States and China are very close to a trade deal:
We were about 90% of the way there [with a deal] and I think thereâs a path to complete this.
Meanwhile, US President Doland Trump rattled markets, criticizing the Fed yet again for not cutting interest rates and unfavorably comparing Powell to European Central Bank President Mario Draghi:
We should have Draghi instead of our Fed person.
Draghi was signaling about plans for monetary stimulus, which can weaken the euro. Trump considered that to be a currency war and thought that the Fed should do likewise.
EUR/USD was flat at 1.1366 as of 20:49 GMT today. USD/JPY rallied from 107.18 to 107.77. AUD/USD gained from 0.6960 to 0.6984.
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