Dollar Struggles To Find Direction Ahead Of Fed Meeting

(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar, which found some support in early New York session on Monday after struggling for direction earlier in the day, turned weak as the day progressed as traders awaited the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting, and a slew of crucial economic data, including inflation readings, this week.

The Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut interest rate by 25 basis points. Traders will pay close attention to the updated policy statement and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's press conference for clues on future interest rates under the Trump administration.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool currently indicates a 97.1% chance the Fed will cut rates by a quarter point next week but an 81% chance the central bank will then leave rates unchanged in late January.

The Bank of Japan and the Bank of England are scheduled to make their policy announcements on Thursday. Markets currently weigh a 25% chance for a rate hike by the BoJ following comments from board member Nakamura that the decision should be data dependent. The BoE is expected to leave its policy rate unchanged.

The People's Bank of China will announce its loan prime rates decision on Friday.

This week's U.S. economic calendar includes preliminary purchasing managers index readings and data on retail sales, industrial production, housing starts and building permits and a second revision to third-quarter GDP.

The report on personal income and spending, which is scheduled to be released on Friday, includes the Fed's preferred readings on consumer price inflation.

The New York Fed said its general business conditions index plummeted to 0.2 in December after spiking to 31.2 in November, although a positive reading still indicates growth. Economists had expected the index to tumble to 12.0.

The dollar index, which advanced to 107.17 around mid morning, dropped to 106.75 before recovering to 106.88, still down by about 0.11%.

Against the Euro, the dollar weakened slightly to 1.0510. Against Pound Sterling, the dollar shed more than 0.5%, trading at 1.2681 a unit of the British currency.

The dollar firmed against the Japanese currency, fetching 154.21 yen. Against the Aussie, the dollar weakened to 0.6370 from 0.6363.

The dollar strengthened against Swiss franc, rising to CHF 0.8946 from CHF 0.8929. Against the Loonie, the dollar gained marginally at C$ 1.4244.