Dollar steady but remains vulnerable after Fed steer
global currencies were steady early on Monday but seemed poised to extend last week's uptrend as the dollar nursed its losses after the Federal Reserve dialled down its hawkish rhetoric.
The dollar index was flat at 105.11, with the euro at $1.0726. The dollar index declined more than 1% last week, its heaviest fall since mid-July and hit a six-week low.
World stocks too had their strongest week in a year as expectations the Fed was done raising rates gathered steam.
Other indicators such as weakness in U.S. jobs data, softer manufacturing numbers from around the world and a decline in longer dated Treasury yields also hurt the dollar, while stoking rallies in sterling, the Aussie dollar and causing the yen to bounce from the weaker side of 150-per-dollar.
Tina Teng, a market analyst at CMC Markets in Auckland, expects the trend to sustain through November.
«We always say bad news is good news, so it's good then there is expectation for the Fed and other central banks to end the rate hike cycle sooner,» Teng said.
However, analysts at J.P.Morgan Securities sounded cautious.
«Dollar bears would be well served to temper their enthusiasm,» they wrote. «This is because, the pillars of USD strength have diluted, but not completely faded and are likely to eventually re-emerge over the medium-term as USD-supportive factors.»
Moreover, besides more evidence of a slowing U.S.
economy, J.P.Morgan analysts say a sustained dollar selloff needs signs of improvement in the euro zone, China and other regions which it says are «still tenuous».
Latest manufacturing surveys from China and Europe's GDP and inflation data bear that out.
Treasury yields slumped last week after softness in U.S. jobs and manufacturing data and after
