The U.S. dollar soared against other major currencies on Wednesday amid the latest remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as well as positive economic data from the country.
Yellen said on Tuesday that it's appropriate for the central bank to continue gradually tighten its monetary policy in view of the uncertainties around inflation.
She argued that faster monetary tightening could jeopardize economic expansion, while moving too slow could risk overheating the economy, as the job market continues strengthening.
"It would be imprudent to keep monetary policy on hold until inflation is back to 2 percent," said Yellen.
"Yellen pushed for continued tightening of U.S. interest rates yesterday even as she acknowledged the possibility there might be something holding inflation lower than expected that is missing from Fed models," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note Wednesday.
On the economic front, U.S. new orders for manufactured durable goods in August increased 3.9 billion U.S. dollars or 1.7 percent to 232.8 billion dollars, beating market consensus, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.44 percent at 93.376 in late trading.
In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1752 U.S. dollars from 1.1800 U.S. dollars, and the British pound declined to 1.3399 U.S. dollars from 1.3458 U.S. dollars. The Australian dollar decreased to 0.7860 U.S. dollar from 0.7893 U.S. dollar.
The U.S. dollar bought 112.87 Japanese yen, higher than 112.15 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar rose to 0.9722 Swiss franc from 0.9690 Swiss franc, and it edged up to 1.2455 Canadian dollars from 1.2345 Canadian dollars.
Yellen said on Tuesday that it's appropriate for the central bank to continue gradually tighten its monetary policy in view of the uncertainties around inflation.
She argued that faster monetary tightening could jeopardize economic expansion, while moving too slow could risk overheating the economy, as the job market continues strengthening.
"It would be imprudent to keep monetary policy on hold until inflation is back to 2 percent," said Yellen.
"Yellen pushed for continued tightening of U.S. interest rates yesterday even as she acknowledged the possibility there might be something holding inflation lower than expected that is missing from Fed models," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note Wednesday.
On the economic front, U.S. new orders for manufactured durable goods in August increased 3.9 billion U.S. dollars or 1.7 percent to 232.8 billion dollars, beating market consensus, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.44 percent at 93.376 in late trading.
In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1752 U.S. dollars from 1.1800 U.S. dollars, and the British pound declined to 1.3399 U.S. dollars from 1.3458 U.S. dollars. The Australian dollar decreased to 0.7860 U.S. dollar from 0.7893 U.S. dollar.
The U.S. dollar bought 112.87 Japanese yen, higher than 112.15 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar rose to 0.9722 Swiss franc from 0.9690 Swiss franc, and it edged up to 1.2455 Canadian dollars from 1.2345 Canadian dollars.
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