Dollar firm before Powell speech, bitcoin stabilises after breaking record
By Brigid Riley
TOKYO (Reuters) -The U.S. dollar was largely steady on Wednesday, as traders avoided making big bets ahead of congressional testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, as well as the European Central Bank rate decision and U.S. jobs data later this week.
In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin was slightly up but stayed below a record high reached in a volatile overnight session.
The absence of catalysts kept the dollar in a tight range, having slipped overnight on data that showed the U.S. services industry growth slowed a bit last month.
The February U.S. jobs report on Friday stands as a test for the rates outlook, with the potential to rock markets if it surprises to the upside.
Traders were also waiting on Fed Chair Powell's first day of testimony before Congress on the state of the U.S. economy, where he's expected to reinforce that the Fed will wait for more data before making any rate cuts.
The Fed chief may also echo comments that strong core inflation in January hasn't significantly changed the central bank's outlook, said Carol Kong, a currency strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (OTC:CMWAY).
«A reiteration of this message is unlikely to alter current market pricing for a June start to the FOMC’s rate cut cycle, and should therefore have limited impact on the USD.»
Markets have priced in about a 60% chance of a rate cut in June, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, hovered around 103.84.
The euro edged down 0.1% to $1.0846 as traders braced for the ECB's interest rate decision later on Thursday.
The central bank is expected to leave rates at a record 4%, putting the focus on clues about
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