Investing.com - The dollar edged higher against the other major currencies on Tuesday, as investors awaited a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, due later in the day, for further indications on future rate hikes.
EUR/USD slipped 0.16% to 1.1177.
The dollar came under pressure late Monday after soft data on U.S. consumer spending and inflation prompted the Atlanta Fed to revise down its estimates for first quarter growth.
The Atlanta Fed lowered its first quarter growth estimate to 0.6% from 1.4%.
Personal spending edged up 0.1% in February the U.S. Commerce Department said, in line with economists’ expectations, but January’s spending was revised down sharply.
Meanwhile, inflation as measured by the PCE index, the Fed’s preferred inflation measure, dipped 0.1% last month and was up just 1% from a year earlier.
The data indicated that the Fed may raise interest rates only gradually this year, despite the tightening labor market.
USD/JPY added 0.18% to trade at 113.64.
The yen weakened after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said earlier Tuesday that he will proceed with a planned sales tax hike next April unless the economy is hit by a severe shock.
Many analysts had expected Abe to delay the planned tax hike which could threaten Japan’s fragile economic recovery.
The dollar was little changed against the pound, with GBP/USD at 1.4263 and was fractionally higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF up 0.08% at 0.9744.
Meanwhile, the Australian dollar was weaker, with AUD/USD down 0.33% at 0.7520, while NZD/USD edged up 0.10% to 0.6732.
USD/CAD was little changed at 1.3191.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.10% at 96.10, not far from Monday’s one-and-a-half week highs of 96.42.