They outnumbered board members who anticipated that economic conditions would soon warrant tightening policy.
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New York Fed President William Dudley said strong recent USA job growth and a long-awaited return of middle-wage employment are two positive signs for the labor market, appearing to reinforce his more confident message on a possible interest rate hike.
The minutes released on Wednesday showed “several” policymakers said a slowdown in the future pace of hiring would argue against a near-term hike even as members of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee were generally upbeat about the US economic outlook.
The Japanese yen has grown above 100 to the dollar for the second time this week as the U.S. currency’s campaign to escape a previous 3 month low that was stalled after the released Fed minutes signalled that officials were divided on the topic of how soon an interest rates hike should be performed. The Wall Street Journal Dollar Index, which measures the USA currency against the currency of 16 other countries, was recently down 0.1% at 85.52; the measure was as high as 85.98 earlier in the session.
Meanwhile, September silver SIU6, -0.72% was off 19 cents, or 1%, at $19.68 an ounce.
“As a result, gold is supported, but struggling to break above $1,357 – the next technical resistance level”, he added.
The dollar will probably trade in a 99 yen to 102 yen range for a while, said Satoshi Okagawa, senior global markets analyst for Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Singapore.
The dollar fell 0.4 percent against a basket of six major currencies, after plunging to its lowest in more than seven weeks. The dollar was down 0.40 percent against the franc at 0.9576 franc CHF= . “But there is no sign of such moves at all”, the trader said. The dollar index was little changed at 94.822 .dxy after losing 0.8 percent on Tuesday, when it touched a 7-week trough of 94.426.Currency markets will seek fresh direction from comments expected from St. Louis Fed President James Bullard and the release of the Fed’s July policy meeting minutes later in the session.Having struck near 31-year lows earlier in the week, sterling traded nearly unchanged at $1.3041 following a 1.3 percent rise overnight due to slightly higher than expected United Kingdom inflation data.Investors will look to the British employment data due later in the session to see if the pound can solidify its position.The Canadian dollar rose against the broadly weaker greenback.
Sterling held steady at $1.3043 GBP=D3.
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The full retail sales report can be found here. The data is expected to show a 0.2 percent rise in July after a sharp fall in June. The index earlier touched a near eight-week low of 94.324.
