Dollar remains higher after Fed's Beige book
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The dollar rose against its major foreign-exchange counterparts Wednesday, after a government report showed accelerating inflation and as traders continued to reduce bets against the U.S. currency.
But the greenback surrendered some gains after a Federal Reserve Beige Book survey of current economic conditions indicated slower economic growth and moderating inflation.
"As expected, the Beige Book is on the dovish side and should serve to highlight the Fed's pause continuing for the foreseeable future," said Brian Dolan, director of research at Forex.com, a division of Gain Capital. "This should see the dollar come under pressure."
In New York trading, the euro was quoted at $1.2806, compared with $1.2818 late Tuesday. The dollar changed hands at 116.58 yen, compared with 115.94 yen.
The British pound traded at $1.8842, compared with $1.8936. The dollar was last at 1.2348 Swiss francs, compared with 1.2335 francs.
The euro fetched 149.32 yen, compared with 148.63 yen. See live foreign exchange rates.
Five of the 12 Fed districts reported a "deceleration" in growth in their regions, while the other seven reported continued moderate growth. The reports of slower growth were clustered in the Northeastern region and in Kansas City.
There was no sign that inflationary pressures are heating up. Although there were sustained increases in the cost of metals and energy and other raw materials, the report found "most of these increases do not appear to have passed through to finished consumer goods.
"The tone [of the survey] is a little less upbeat than in recent reports," said currency strategists at research firm Action Economics. The dollar has been somewhat sensitive to U.S. growth prospects of late, and the Beige Book seems to confirm at least some cooling.
Mixed inflation
Earlier, the dollar gained after revisions to quarterly nonfarm business productivity data showed unit labor costs rose 5% in the past year, the fastest pace since 1990.
The Labor Department said productivity increased an annualized 1.6% in the second quarter, up from 1.1% reported a month ago. Unit labor costs increased 4.9% annualized, revised from 4.2% earlier.
Economists were expecting productivity to be revised up to 1.5% and unit labor costs to be unrevised at 4.2%, according to a survey conducted by MarketWatch.
The greenback showed little reaction after the Institute for Supply Management said nonmanufacturing sectors of the U.S. economy expanded at a faster pace during August.
The ISM nonmanufacturing index rose to 57% from 54.8% in July. Economists were looking the index to only rise to 55.4%. Inflation pressures eased. The price index slipped to 72.4% from 74.8% in the previous month.
After 17 straight meetings in which it implemented quarter-percentage-point increases in benchmark interest rates, the Fed held interest rates steady at 5.25% on Aug. 8. The Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed's policy-setting panel, next meets Sept. 20.