US Dollar stays strong ahead of FOMC policy decision

The US Dollar holds firm against its major rivals early Tuesday. The US Dollar Index clings to modest daily gains near 101.50. US data highlighted a further improvement in consumer sentiment in July.


The US Dollar gains traction on Tuesday, with the USD index touching its highest level since July 12 above 101.5 in the early American session. The uptick confirms a bullish start to the week for the Greenback, which posted a fifth straight day of gains on Monday after outperforming its major rivals also during the previous week.

Consumer sentiment in the US continued to improve in July, with the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index rising to 117.0 from 110.1 (revised from 109.7) in June.

Further details of the publication revealed that the Present Situation Index climbed to 160.0 from 155.3 and the Consumer Expectations Index advanced to 88.3 from 80.

The US Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting will start on Tuesday and the interest-rate decision will be announced on Wednesday.

House prices in the US rose by 0.7% on a monthly basis in May, the monthly data published by the US Federal Housing Finance Agency showed on Tuesday. This reading followed the 0.7% increase recorded in April and came in better than the market expectation of +0.2%.
Wall Street’s main indexes opened slightly higher on Tuesday following Monday’s choppy action. At the time of press, Nasdaq Composite was up 0.6% on the day and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was gaining 0.1%
The benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield rose nearly 1% on Monday and continued to push higher toward 3.9% Tuesday, helping the USD stay resilient against its rivals.


US S&P Global Manufacturing PMI improved to 49.0 in July’s flash estimate from 46.3 in June. Services PMI edged lower to 52.4 from 54.4 in the same period. Finally, Composite PMI declined to 52.0 from 53.2, pointing to an ongoing expansion in the private sector’s business activity, albeit at a softening pace.