Forex Today – Asian Session: Powell Sends the Dollar Down

What you need to know on Thursday, July 15:

The dollar was down against all of its major rivals as US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell made subdued comments in his semi-annual testimony. He said the central bank would provide powerful support until the economic recovery is complete. He added that inflation is expected to remain high in the coming months before declining, and acting prematurely would be a mistake.

Dollar’s rivals were limited and uneven. The EUR / USD pair is hovering around 1.3850, while the GBP / USD is trading in the 1.3850 price zone. AUD / USD consolidates gains near a daily high at 0.7485, ahead of Australian employment data.

The USD / CAD pair ended the day unchanged around 1.2510 as the CAD was hit by a less aggressive Bank of Canada. The central bank left its key rate unchanged at 0.25% after the July policy meeting as expected. In addition, the BoC decided to lower the target for weekly purchases of Canadian government bond net assets to C 2 billion from C 3 billion, and is still guiding a possible rate hike for the second half of 2022.

Gold prices soared and the shiny metal approached $ 1,830 a troy ounce for the first time since mid-June. Crude oil prices fell sharply after the release of US oil reserves, which declined by 7.9 million barrels in the week ending July 9. The WTI ended the day at $ 72.60 a barrel.

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