The U.S. dollar traded weak against its major rivals on Monday with traders digesting comments from Fed officials and assessing the outlook for interest rates, and awaited updates from debt ceiling deal negotiations.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell, during his speech at a conference in Washington on Friday, reinforced expectations the central bank will leave interest rates unchanged next month. Powell suggested interest rates "may not need to rise as much as it would have otherwise to achieve our goals."
President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., are due to hold talks on raising the debt ceiling this evening.
Treasury Secretary Yellen said on Sunday that the likelihood of the Treasury paying all US bills by June 15th is quite low.
Hawkish comments from a few Fed officials have raised concerns about outlook for interest rates. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said today that he backed two more increases.
Federal Reserve of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari said if the central bank does pause, it should signal tightening isn't over.
The dollar index climbed to 103.37, but has eased to 103.25, up just marginally from the previous close.
Against the Euro, the dollar has weakened to 1.0815 from 1.0806. Against Pound Sterling, the dollar is up marginally at 1.2437.
The dollar is up against the Japanese currency, fetching 138.60 yen a unit, rising from 137.90 yen.
Against the Aussie, the dollar edged down marginally to 0.6651, and against Swiss franc, dropped to CHF 0.8979. The dollar settled at C$1.3507 against the Loonie.
