The US Dollar is Falling Due to Weak Consumer Sentiment

The US dollar settled near a one-week low against the other major currencies on Monday, August 16th, while declining US consumer sentiment hurt bets on an early Federal Reserve monetary policy tightening, while the yuan and Australian dollar fell after disappointing Chinese economic data.

There was little change in the dollar index, which measures the performance of the US currency against six other currencies at 92.561 after it fell 0.50% at the end of last week.

The dollar fell to 109.335 yen for the first time since August 4 in today’s trading, and later recorded a decline of 0.16% at 109.42, in light of the decline in the 10-year Treasury bond yields in the Asian session.

Against the euro, the US currency stabilized at $1.1789, close to a one-week low of $1.18045 hit on Friday.

A University of Michigan survey last weekend showed consumer morale fell to its lowest level since 2011 as Covid-19 cases accelerated.

The dollar fluctuated with the frequency of economic data, and it had reached a four-month peak last week as a result of the momentum from a recovery in the labor market, but it declined later after inflation pressures subsided.

In Asia, the Australian dollar fell 0.54% to $ 0.7336, following disappointing data from China, the country’s largest trading partner, as well as tightening its isolation measures.

Factory production and retail sales in China slowed sharply in July as new outbreaks of COVID-19 and floods disrupted activities, confirming signs that the economic recovery is losing momentum.

The data weighed on the yuan, and it fell from a 10-day peak of 6.4733 against the dollar in spot trade at home.