Dollar Rises After PPI Data

(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar firmed against its major counterparts on Friday after data showed a slightly bigger than expected increase in the nation's producer prices in the month of July, triggering speculation the Federal Reserve will likely keep interest rates higher for longer duration.

Comments from San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly that it was premature to say if the Fed has raised rates enough to bring inflation down to the 2% target, contributed as well to dollar's uptick.

Data from the Labor Department showed producer prices climbed by slightly more than expected in the month of July. The data said the producer price index for final demand rose by 0.3% in July following a revised unchanged reading in June.

Economists had expected producer prices to inch up by 0.2% compared to the 0.1% uptick originally reported for the previous month.

The report also showed the annual rate of producer price growth reaccelerated to 0.8% in July after slowing to just 0.2% in June. The rate of growth was expected to accelerate to 0.7%.

A separate report released by the University of Michigan showed the consumer sentiment index edged down to 71.2 in August after spiking to 71.6 in July. Economists had expected the index to slip to 71.0.

The dollar index climbed to 102.91, gaining nearly 0.4%.

Against the Euro, the dollar strengthened to 1.0948 from 1.0983, and against Pound Sterling, it regained from lost ground and is trading at 1.2700, after having weakened to 1.2739 earlier in the day.

Against the Japanese currency, the dollar is stronger at 144.94 yen. The dollar is firm against the Aussie at 0.6494, and is little changed against Swiss franc at CHF 0.8764.

The dollar is up marginally against the loonie at C$ 1.3450 after having weakened to C$1.3413 earlier.