By: Barbara Zigah
As the market’s wait to hear Congressional testimony from Ben Bernanke, the Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, the U.S. Dollar struggled off of a weeks-long low in Tokyo trading. As reported at 3:38 p.m. (JST) in Japan, the U.S. Dollar gained .2% on the Euro to trade at $1.4204; yesterday, it had briefly hit a 6-week low on the EBS platform. Versus the Australian Dollar, one of the higher-risk, higher-yielding currencies that has been benefiting from investor optimism, the U.S. Dollar moved up .4% to trade at $0.8125. The U.S. Dollar Index, which is a measure of the U.S. currency’s performance versus a six major currencies, was trading slightly higher than 78.799 .DXY, a 6-week low.
According to Bernanke, in a statement issued through the Wall Street Journal, as the economy recovers, the Federal Reserve will start to withdraw accommodative measures aimed at preventing inflation. He acknowledged, however, that such measures continue to be necessary in the near term. The currency markets will wait to see if any surprises come out of the Bernanke testimony. In the meantime, market players will continue to watch the results of U.S. corporate earnings reports as their gauge of a quick recovery.
Bernanke Testimony Awaited, U.S. Dollar Inches Upward
After working on Wall Street, Barb began her second career as a freelance writer at Daily Forex, where the CEO recognized fresh, untapped potential and was willing to give her a try. She’s never looked back. Since then, she’s worked steadily as a freelance writer and editor in the financial services and Forex-related industry.