Forex Today: US Dollar extends slide as investors await FOMC Minutes

What you need to take care of on  Wednesday, February 21:

The US Dollar edged lower on Tuesday, extending its slide after the long weekend amid mounting speculation the Fed will further delay the first rate cut. The CME Group FedWatch Tool now shows market players are moving their bets towards June. The odds for a 25 basis points (bps) March rate cut had decreased to 34.4%, while June ones increased to 55.1%.

Stock markets traded with a tepid tone, with Wall Street spending most of the day in the red.

Bank of England (BoE) policymakers testified on inflation and the economic outlook before Parliament's Treasury Committee. Governor Andrew Bailey said that the UK economy is at full employment and added it is already showing distinct signs of an upturn. He added inflation does not need to fall back to 2% before rate cuts materialize, and commented it’s not unreasonable to expect a rate cut this year, although he refrained from providing a specific date.

Canada reported the January Consumer Price Index (CPI), which rose by 2.9% YoY s in January down from 3.4% in December,  according to Statistics Canada

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will release the latest meeting Minutes on Wednesday. The document will likely provide fresh clues on what policymakers considered in their latest meeting to dismiss a March rate cut, while speculative interest will try to assess the odds and dates for upcoming cuts.

The EUR/USD pair neared 1.0840, holding above the 1.0800 level early Wednesday. GBP/USD settled around 1.2620. The Canadian Dollar was the worst performer vs the Greenback, as the pair trades around 1.3520. The AUD/USD, on the other hand, is up for a fifth consecutive day and trades around 0.6550. Finally, CHF and JPY posted modest losses vs the USD, while Gold topped $2,030 a troy ounce.