London (awp/afp) – The dollar suffered on Wednesday from slowing underlying inflation in the United States, while the yen benefited from remarks by the governor of the Bank of Japan on a possible rate increase.
Around 3:30 p.m. GMT (4:30 p.m. in Paris), the greenback lost 0.21% against the single currency, to 1.0330 dollars per euro, and lost 0.47% against the British currency, to 1.2273 dollars. for a pound.
According to the consumer price index (CPI) published on Wednesday, inflation accelerated again in December in the United States, for the third month in a row, to 2.9% over one year, compared to 2.7 % in November, in line with Bloomberg consensus expectations.
But over one month, core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, slowed to 0.2%, where economists were betting on a stable figure of 0.3%, which causes the dollar to fall.
The strength of the American labor market, coupled with the risk of inflation linked to the trade war that Donald Trump could launch once in power, should not, however, encourage the Federal Reserve (Fed) to lower its rates in January, notes Michael Brown, analyst at Pepperstone.
“The key question now is how long the Fed’s “pause” will last, insists Mr. Brown.
Analysts are at this stage banking on a further cut in US rates in May.
In the United Kingdom, inflation fell slightly in December, to 2.5% year-on-year, after two consecutive months of increases, and is approaching the Bank of England’s (BoE) target of 2%.
Enough to slightly support market expectations, which are counting on a further rate cut at the next meeting in early February, notes Joaquin Thul, analyst at EFG Asset Management.
The Japanese currency rose sharply, by 1.15% against the greenback, to 156.16 yen per dollar, driven by the governor of the Bank of Japan (BoJ), Kazuo Ueda, who spoke of a possible rate hike on Wednesday. of interest next week, showing confidence in wage increases in the country, reports Bloomberg.
The deputy governor “Ryozo Himino had already made almost the same statements at the beginning of the week, but for the market, Ueda’s words seem to have even more weight”, “which leads to an appreciation of the yen”, summarizes Antje Praefcke, analyst at Commerzbank.
Cours de mercredi Cours de mardi 15H30 GMT 22H00 GMT EUR/USD 1,0330 1,0308 EUR/JPY 161,32 161,82 EUR/CHF 0,9404 0,9405 EUR/GBP 0,8417 0,8438 USD/JPY 156,16 157,96 USD/CHF 0,9103 0,9123 GBP/USD 1,2273 1,2215
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