LONDON (AFX) - The dollar slid to a near 11-month low against the euro on softer than anticipated US economic data.
A slew of economic reports on US first-quarter gross domestic product growth, employment costs, consumer sentiment and business activity in the Chicago area, which all came in below forecasts, reinforced expectations that the US Federal Reserve is nearing the end of its interest rate tightening cycle.
In particular, analysts cited the news that the US economy grew at an annual rate of 4.8 pct in the first quarter of 2006, slightly lower than expectations of a 4.9 pct increase.
In addition, markets focused on further evidence of a moderation in inflation, particularly on employment costs, which should ease concerns that a tight labour market is a major source of inflationary pressures.
The core consumer price index (excluding food and energy) retreated to a 2 pct annual rate from 2.4 pct, which pushed the year-on-year gain down to 1.9 pct, just below the top of the Federal Reserve's target range. The employment cost index also came in below expectations at 0.6 pct.
"All in all these numbers are unlikely to change anything for the Fed, and if anything the subdued rise in employment costs reinforces our view that rates will not go beyond 5.0 pct," said Henrik Gullberg, FX strategist at CALYON.
Today's news comes after Ben Bernanke, the Fed's new chairman, told a congressional committee that Fed policymakers may decide to pause in hiking interest rates. A further negative for the dollar came when Bernanke expressed concern over the US' record high current account deficit. Tackling the widening shortfall presents a challenge, he said, adding that it could lead to "disruptive changes" in the dollar and other asset prices.
"In general, the market seems to be in a sell dollar mode," said John McCarthy, director of foreign exchange trading at ING Capital Markets.
"We believe that the Fed is about to be finished raising rates for the time being, while in the rest of the world, rates are going higher," he added.
Expectations of an imminent Fed pause, contrasting predictions of tighter monetary policy from the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan, has been the main reason behind the dollar's slump on the foreign exchange markets in recent weeks, though other factors have negatively impacted on the US currency.
While the Fed is now expected to hike once more in May, taking its key repo rate to 5.0 pct, the ECB is expected to continue lifting its key refi rate over the coming year from the current 2.50 pct. Meanwhile, the BoJ is readying itself to start lifting borrowing costs again after a multi-year gap.
Following today's news, the euro rose to 1.2596 usd, its highest level since May 26, 2005, while the pound surged to 1.8176 usd, its highest since Sept 15, 2005. Meanwhile, the dollar was falling back down towards yesterday's 3-month low of 113.83 yen.
Bernanke's comments merely added to the spate of dollar-negative factors this week -- including the G7 communique calling for greater currency flexibility in Asian currencies, central bank reserve diversification away from the dollar and China's rate hike yesterday.
"April has been a horrible month of the dollar," said Marc Chandler, currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman, in a note.
"The overriding factor is bearish dollar sentiment and further dollar losses are likely," he added.