Dollar Turns In Mixed Performance Ahead Of Fed Policy

(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar turned in a mixed performance against its major counterparts on Tuesday, struggling to find support at higher levels as traders awaited the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

The European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan are scheduled to make their monetary policy announcements on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by another 25 basis points, but traders are hopeful the rate hike will be the last following recent encouraging inflation data.

"Investors are clearly signaling that they expect this week's announcement to mark the end of the rate-hiking cycle, followed by a series of aggressive rate cuts next year," said John Lynch, Chief Investment Officer for Comerica Wealth Management.

In U.S. economic news, the Conference Board released a report showing U.S. consumer confidence improved by much more than expected in the month of July.

The report said the consumer confidence index jumped to 117.0 in July from an upwardly revised 110.1 in June. Economists had expected the index to climb to 111.8 from the 109.7 originally reported for the previous month.

With the much bigger than expected surge, the consumer confidence index reached its highest level since July 2021.

The dollar index, which was down at 101.19 in the Asian session, climbed to 101.65 around mid morning, but retreated and dropped to 101.28 later on in the day, netting a marginal loss.

Against the Euro, the dollar is up at 1.1054 despite easing from 1.1022, and has weakened to 1.2899 against Pound Sterling.

Against the Japanese currency, the dollar is down at 140.97 yen, after having settled at 141.49 yen on Monday. The dollar is weak against the Aussie with the AUD/USD pair trading at 0.6793.

The Swiss franc is gaining against the dollar at CHF 0.8643, firming from CHF 0.8695. Against the Loonie, the dollar is up marginally at C$1.3174.