Washington (awp/afp) – The dollar fell on Thursday, partially correcting its surge the day before due to the election of Donald Trump, and little shaken by the new rate cut by the American central bank which was expected by the analysts.
Around 8:40 p.m. GMT, the American currency fell by 0.60% against the euro, to $1.0794, and fell by 0.77% against the pound, to $1.2979.
The Dollar Index, which compares the greenback to a basket of six currencies, fell 0.71% to 104.34.
The day before, the greenback had gone as high as $1.0683, a first in more than four months, pushed by the return of Donald Trump to the White House and the prospect of inflationary policies.
“The market tends to get carried away during such an event, then, subsequently, we see profit taking: that’s a bit of what we saw today,” commented to the AFP Brad Bechtel, from Jefferies.
The “buck”, one of the nicknames of the American currency, also reacted little to the new rate cut announced Thursday by the American central bank (Fed), in particular because it had been widely anticipated by the markets, according to the analysts.
This new cut, which places rates in the range of 4.50 to 4.75%, comes after that of half a point in September – the first since March 2020.
“There was nothing surprising (…) and nothing more than what (currency traders) expected” in this announcement, said Mr. Bechtel.
Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Fed, “was cautious in terms of measures and comments on the state of the economy” during his press conference, added the analyst.
M Powell clarified that “in the short term, the elections will have no effect on (the) decisions” of the Fed.
However, he refused to comment on a possible weakening of the independence of the Fed under this new Trump administration.
Cours de jeudi Cours de mercredi 20H40 GMT 22H00 GMT EUR/USD 1,0794 1,0729 EUR/JPY 165,13 165,91 EUR/CHF 0,9421 0,9405 EUR/GBP 0,8316 0,8331 USD/JPY 152,99 154,63 USD/CHF 0,8729 0,8766 GBP/USD 1,2979 1,2879
afp/rp
