U.S. dollar inches up on strongest CPI growth since 1982

NEW YORK, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar increased in late trading on Thursday due to higher-than-expected inflation. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, increased 0.06 percent at 95.5530 in late trading. U.S. consumer price index (CPI) for January 2022 posted 7.5 percent of year-on-year growth, higher than the 7.3 percent of market expectation consensus.

The highest CPI growth since 1982 further spurred market expectation of more aggressive monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve. St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard on Thursday said he wants the Fed to hike interest rate by 100 basis points by July 1, which means the Fed should announce a 50-basis point hike in one of the three upcoming monetary policy meetings. "Inflation data surprised the upside and has sent the greenback into rally mode...

The higher inflation is causing markets to increase bets that the Federal Reserve will find the scope to raise rates at a faster clip," said a note by foreign exchange and international payment solutions provider Tempus, Inc. on Thursday. In late New York trading, the euro was up to 1.1452 dollars from 1.1436 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound increased to 1.3574 dollars from 1.3537 U.S. dollars in the previous session.

The U.S. dollar bought 115.9210 Japanese yen, higher than 115.4760 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar rose to 0.9257 Swiss franc from 0.9238 Swiss franc, and it increased to 1.2717 Canadian dollars from 1.2673 Canadian dollars. The U.S. dollar increased to 9.2953 Swedish Krona from 9.1050 Swedish Krona.