Yahoo Finance Forex- Dollar Edges Down as Bitcoin Surges
Investing.com - The dollar fell against a basket of the other major currencies on Monday but was held up slightly by expectations of higher interest rates.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, edged down 0.07% to 93.77 by 11:52 AM ET (16:52 GMT).
The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates at its two-day policy meeting this week but disappointing wage data could weigh on the pace of interest rate hikes next year.
A stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs report underlined expectations for a rate hike by the Federal Reserve at its upcoming meeting but concerns rose after the report showed wage growth had stalled.
The dollar was a touch lower against the yen, with USD/JPY dipping 0.12% to 113.34.
The euro pushed higher against the dollar, with EUR/USD rising 0.21% to 1.1799, while sterling fell to an all day low amid comments on the Brexit deal from British Prime Minister Theresa May to Parliament. She said nothing would be agreed on until everyone agrees and stayed committed to an open border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. She added the the UK would pay its fair share of commitments to the EU.
GBP/USD slumped 0.25% to 1.3359.
Meanwhile, the price of the digital currency bitcoin surged following the launch of trading of the first U.S. bitcoin futures. Cboe started trading the digital currency on its Futures Exchange on Sunday. The cryptocurrency futures surged over 20% within hours of launching, causing a temporary outage to the trading website. The futures price has already surged over $17,000.
On the U.S.-based Bitfinex exchange, Bitcoin was last at $16,343.00 after rising as high as $16,710.00 earlier.
Larger exchange CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) will begin initial listings of bitcoin futures contracts on December 18.
Related Articles
Forex- Dollar Edges Down as Bitcoin Surges
Dollar dips on inflation outlook; yen gains after New York blast
