Asian session review: the dollar consolidated against major currencies

During today's Asian trading, the US dollar traded steadily against major currencies.

The ICE index, which tracks the dynamics of the dollar against six currencies (euro, swiss franc, yen, canadian dollar, pound sterling and swedish krona), fell by 0.06%.

At the same time, the index remains near the maximum value since the beginning of November 2020 against the background of rising US Treasuries yields due to increased expectations of the imminent start of the curtailment of stimulus measures by the US Federal Reserve.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said yesterday that the regulator had fulfilled almost all the criteria to start curtailing stimulus measures. At the same time, he expressed confidence that inflation will begin to slow down over time.

Powell noted that US inflation is likely to remain high in the coming months, but then will begin to slow down. The increase in inflation caused by problems in supply chains and other factors related to the recovery of economic activity after the coronavirus pandemic turned out to be longer and more significant than expected, the head of the Fed said. Nevertheless, Powell stressed that he was confident that inflation could return to the Fed's 2% target.

Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that the US economy is in the process of a "fragile but rapid recovery" after the recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Despite the current slowdown in employment growth and consumer spending due to the spread of a new strain of coronavirus, she still expects that the labor market will return to full employment next year.