Dollar Falls On U.S. GDP Aftershocks

The dollar weakened on Friday as traders continued to assess this week’s troubling first quarter U.S. GDP report.

With the world’s largest economy contracting by a whopping 2.8 percent in the first three months of the year, the Federal Reserve is widely seen keeping its easy monetary in place through most of 2015.

That’s despite rhetoric to the contrary from Fed hawks advocating rate hikes soon after the central bank’s bond-buying program winds down in October.

A somewhat positive report on U.S. consumer confidence failed to give the dollar a boost today.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan’s final June reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment came in at 82.5, up from 81.9 the month before and above analyst forecasts.

Commerce Department data on Thursday showed slightly weaker-than-expected data on consumer spending in May.

The dollar slipped to $1.3650 versus the euro, moving further away from a 4-month peak near $1.35 hit earlier this month.

German inflation accelerated to 1 percent in June from 0.6 percent in May, the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden said today.

The buck edged down to $1.7017 versus the sterling, staying near its lowest in 5 years.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said earlier in the week that U.K. interest rates might be raised sooner than expected.

The dollar slipped to Y101.36 versus the yen, near the lower end of this year’s stubborn trading range.

Published: 2014-06-27 18:16:00 UTC+00

Dollar Falls On U.S. GDP Aftershocks