Dollar stabilizes as Fed remains cautious on inflation

The dollar stabilized on Monday after falling sharply last week after Federal Reserve Chairman Christopher Waller said the central bank had not eased its fight against inflation.

Slightly lighter-than-expected inflation data on Thursday dragged the dollar down, with the dollar index dropping 3.6 percent in two sessions last week, its biggest two-day percentage loss since March 2009.

Global stocks rose as investors sought out risky assets on the hope that peak inflation would mean the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike would be dented significantly.

But Waller said on Sunday that last week’s inflation data was “just one data point” that should be followed by other similar data to prove that inflation is slowing convincingly.

But Waller added that the Fed could now begin to consider raising interest rates at a slower pace.

Meanwhile, cryptocurrencies have been under pressure from the ongoing turmoil in the cryptocurrency world after the fall of cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

Bitcoin fell about one percent to $ 16,170.

The Japanese yen fell 0.24 percent against the dollar to 139.12 per dollar, after rising 5.4 percent last week against the dollar. The euro fell in the last trading 0.2 percent to 1.0331 dollars.

Sterling was last traded at $1.1798, down 0.31 percent the day before the British chancellor’s statement on Thursday, which is expected to outline tax increases and spending cuts.

The dollar index fell 0.094 percent to 106.610, not far from Friday’s low of 106.27.