Forex Market Update: Dollar Index Gains as Nomination of Janet Yellen as Fed Chief Calm Down Investors
The dollar index rose sharply on Wednesday amid rising speculation that lawmakers might reach a deal over the debt-ceiling just before the deadline even as news that Janet Yellen, who is perceived to have a very accommodating stance over monetary policy—will be nominated for the Federal Reserve’s Chairmanship, also calmed down global markets, lending support to the U.S. unit.
At last check, the dollar index, a measure on greenback’s performance against a basket of six major traded currencies, 0.53% to 80.42.
The WSJ$ Index was up 0.46% to 72.68.
President Obama said he was willing to discuss on spending cut issue if House Republicans were ready to reopen the federal government and increase the debt-limit with no conditions attached.
Meanwhile, President Obama is all set to nominate the Fed’s no. 2 official, Janet Yellen as Ben Bernanke’s successor. Appointment of Yellen as the Fed chairman would mean that the pace of scaling down of the bond purchase program will be not too fast.
According Reuters, Jane Foley, a senior currency strategist at Rabobank said that news of Yellen has lent support to greenback, adding that no one wanted to be short on the dollar as expectations are high that lawmakers will reach an eleventh-hour deal over the debt ceiling issue.
“The Yellen news has cleared the air a bit. I think it is also just people not wanting to be on the wrong side of any dollar rally,” said Foley, according to Reuters.
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Post Written By: Ed Liston
Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht. |