01.04.2024
Dollar held up despite growing expectations of a Fed rate cut in June
01.04.2024
Mirjan Hipolito
Cryptocurrency and stock expert

​In Monday's trading, the dollar held steady against most of the world's currencies following the release of US consumer price data. 

A report from the US Commerce Department showed that consumer prices rose 0.3% in February after rising 0.4% in the previous month, while economists had expected consumer prices to rise 0.4%. At the same time, annualized consumer price growth accelerated to 2.5% from 2.4% in January, in line with Wall Street forecasts. 

The data reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve (Fed) could cut interest rates in June, Reuters reported. 

Markets are now pricing in a 68.5% probability that the Fed will cut rates in June, up from 57% at the end of last week, according to CME FedWatch data. 

Still, Citi analysts said, "If activity continues, the Fed could deliver three rate cuts this year. But further softening in the labor market leads us to expect five rate cuts this year." 

The US Dollar Index .DXY, which tracks the greenback against a basket of global currencies, fell 0.03% to 104.5. 

The EUR/USD is trading at 1.0791, while the Yen is up 0.04% at 1.2628. 

USD/JPY is holding steady at 151.36 after hitting 151.975 on March 24th, prompting threats of intervention from Japanese authorities. 

Japan's Finance Minister, Shunichi Suzuki, said earlier that he does not rule out intervening in the currency market to stabilize the yen if it continues to plummet. 

AUD/USD and NZD/USD rose 0.05% and 0.11% to 0.6525 and 0.5984, respectively. 

"The Fed's willingness to tolerate inflation well above 2% while continuing to consider rate cuts supports risk assets," said Mansoor Mohi-uddin, Chief Economist at the Bank of Singapore. 

It is worth noting that most financial markets in Europe will be closed on April 1 due to the holiday weekend. 

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