The dollar held firmly near three-month highs on Friday after surging overnight as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stuck with dovish rhetoric despite a recent spike in bond market volatility.
Powell’s remarks reignited selling in Treasuries, with the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield jumping back above 1.5% and rising as high as 1.5830% in Asia. Last week, it had soared to a three-month top of 1.614%. Riskier currencies including the Australian and New Zealand dollars slid along with stocks as investor sentiment again turned sour. The dollar index was little changed at 91.660 early in the Asian session after gaining 0.7% overnight.
The euro slipped 0.1% to $1.19635, a one-month low, following a 0.7% slump overnight. The dollar eased slightly to 107.835 yen, but remained near the multi-month high at the cusp of 108 touched during Thursday’s 0.9% surge.
Melissa Sithole.
