Dollar Climbs Higher Over Major Rivals On Rate Hike Bets
(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar firmed against other major counterparts on Monday amid bets on sharper interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve to tame soaring inflation.
Data from Labor Department showed on Friday that the U.S. consumer price index rose to a four-decade high of 8.6% in May, beating economists' expectations of 8.3%.
The data fueled a selloff in stock markets as investors fear that aggressive monetary tightening could cause a recession.
The Federal Reserve, which is slated to release its monetary policy on Wednesday, is widely expected to raise rates by 50 basis points.
The Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank are also expected to raise interest rates at their meetings this week, but little change is expected from the Bank of Japan.
The dollar index rose to a fresh 2-decade high of 105.29, moving past the highs touched in mid May.
Against the Euro, the dollar strengthened to $1.0407 from around $1.0517.
The dollar firmed to $1.2134 against Pound Sterling, rising from $1.2320.
Against the Japanese currency, the dollar was roughly flat at 134.42 yen.
Against the Aussie, the dollar firmed to 0.7924 from 0.8051
The Swiss franc weakened to 0.9773 a dollar from 0.9877, while the Loonie was down at C$1.2898 a dollar, dropping from C$1.2785.