Yahoo Finance Forex- Dollar Inches Up Amid Government Shutdown Fears
Investing.com - The U.S. dollar inched up against other major currencies on Friday, but was held back amid fears of a potential government shutdown.
Congress has until 12:00 AM ET (5:00 GMT) to pass a spending bill before the government shuts down. The House of Representatives voted 230-197 on Thursday night for a bill to extend expiring funding through Feb. 16 but disagreements between Republicans and Democrats over immigration legislation threatens to collapse the Senate version of the bill.
The dollar was also affected by the fact that the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury hit its highest level since 2014.
The dollar has been pressured lower in recent sessions amid concerns the global economic recovery will outpace U.S. growth and prompt other major central banks, including the European Central Bank to begin unwinding loose monetary policy at a faster pace.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.06% to 90.36 by 11:44 AM ET (16:44 GMT), off a three-year low of 89.96 hit earlier in the session.
The euro eased, with EUR/USD down 0.01% at 1.2237. Sterling turned lower after data on Friday showed that UK retail sales declined much more than expected in December. GBP/USD slipped 0.33% to 1.3851, off session highs of 1.3945.
The yen was still stronger, with USD/JPY down 0.42% at 110.63,
Elsewhere, the Australian dollar remained higher, with AUD/USD up 0.01% at 0.8000, while NZD/USD shed 0.23% to 0.7282.
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