Asian session review: the US dollar rose slightly against most currencies

During today's Asian trading, the US dollar rose against most major currencies.

The ICE index, which tracks the dollar's performance against six currencies (euro, swiss franc, yen, canadian dollar, pound sterling and swedish krona), rose 0.09%.

The pace of employment growth in the United States will increase in the coming months, and inflationary pressures will ease amid the ongoing recovery of the American economy from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said.

"The U.S. economy is showing steady improvement," says the text of Powell's speech, which he will present to the U.S. Congress on Tuesday.

According to Powell, the credit programs adopted by the Federal Reserve at the peak of the crisis "freed up more than $2 trillion in funding", which helped reduce job losses in companies, non-profit organizations and in local governments.

Meanwhile, the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, John Williams, said yesterday that he is not ready for the Fed to abandon the support it provides to the economy, amid uncertainty about the pace of recovery from the effects of the pandemic.

Earlier on Monday, the head of the St. Louis Fed, James Bullard, and the head of the Dallas Fed, Rob Kaplan, said that the day when the Fed will begin to wind down the asset purchase program is approaching.