U.S. Dollar Little Changed As Traders Digest Inflation, Consumer Sentiment Data

(RTTNews) - After trending higher over the past couple weeks, the value of the U.S. dollar has fluctuated over the course of trading on Friday.

The U.S. dollar index saw some volatility early in the day but is currently posting a modest loss, down just 0.05 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 102.94.

The greenback is trading at 149.16 yen versus the 148.57 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Thursday. Against the euro, the dollar is unchanged compared to yesterday's $1.0934.

The choppy trading comes as traders react to the latest U.S. economic data, including a Labor Department report showing producer prices in the U.S. were unexpectedly unchanged in September.

The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand came in flat in September after rising by 0.2 percent in August. Economists had expected producer prices to inch up by 0.1 percent.

The report also said the annual rate of growth by producer prices slowed to 1.8 percent in September from an upwardly revised 1.9 percent in August.

Economists had expected the annual rate of producer price growth to dip to 1.6 percent from the 1.7 percent originally reported for the previous month.

The data reinforced optimism the Federal Reserve will continue lowering interest rates in the coming months, although hopes for another 50 basis point cut next month have largely evaporated.

Meanwhile, a separate report released by the University of Michigan showed an unexpected deterioration by U.S. consumer sentiment in the month of October.

The University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index fell to 68.9 in October after climbing to 70.1 in September. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 70.8.

The unexpected decrease by consumer sentiment may have reflected lingering inflation concerns, as year-ahead inflation expectations rose to 2.9 percent in October from 2.7 percent in September.

On the other hand, the report said long-run inflation expectations edged down to 3.0 percent in October from 3.1 percent in September.