In the beginning of the session, the dollar was essentially stable in Europe, after a lull in the news, before the release of new economic data in the United States later in the day.
The greenback is likely to see a modest loss of about 0.2% this week, while the world expects that China and the United States a truce in the commercial elusive.
The threat of chinese repression against the unrest in Hong Kong also keeps the markets on edge. President Xi Jinping has urged the director-general of the city, Carrie Lam, to suppress protests on Thursday, urging “decisive action… to punish those who have committed violent crimes”, according to the Financial Times.
However, the FT has also quoted people close to the matter who reported that the highest chinese official in charge of the monitoring of the territories of Hong Kong and Macao had deferred a visit in the city, for fear of making the situation worse.
Around 10.30 am, the dollar index, which tracks the dollar against a basket of currencies of developed markets, was at 98,050, which has changed little since Thursday evening. EUR/USD and GBP/USD remained unchanged at 1,1025 and 1,2880, respectively.
The federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell, has provided support for the dollar in the past two days. He stated that there would be more reduction in american interest rates without a major deterioration of the economy.
The modest increase of jobless claims last week and the slowdown of inflation in producer prices on Thursday have clearly not met this requirement, but it is possible that the figures for retail sales and industrial production in the United States, both expected later on Friday, will send stronger signals of a slowdown.