Investing.com - The dollar extended gains against the other majors currencies on Wednesday, as investors were awaiting a highly-anticipated press conference by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump scheduled later in the day.
EUR/USD retreated 0.82% to 1.0468.
Wednesday’s press conference will be Donald Trump’s first since his electoral victory in November. Market participants were eyeing ani further information on Trump’s future economic policies.
Meanwhile, the greenback continued to be underpinned by expectations for higher interest rates this year.
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates in December and indicated that it expects to hike rates three more times in 2017.
Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren on Monday called for the U.S. central bank to step up the pace of interest rate increases, warning that inflation could overshoot its target if it does not.
Elsewhere, GBP/USD tumbled 0.95% to 1.2060.
Earlier Wednesday, the U.K. Office for National Statistics said manufacturing production increased 1.3% in November, surpassing expectations for a gain of 0.5% and following a decline of 1.0% a month earlier.
On an annualized basis, manufacturing production rose at rate of 1.2% in November, better than estimates for a gain of 0.4%.
The report also showed that industrial production increased by 2.1% in November, compared to forecasts for a gain of 0.8% and following a decline of 1.1% the previous month.
USD/JPY gained 0.82% to trade at 116.73, while USD/CHF climbed 0.65% to 1.0235.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars turned lower, with AUD/USD down 0.08% at 0.7362 and with NZD/USD shedding 0.26% to 0.69735.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD rose 0.33% to trade at 1.3269.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.79% at 102.81 and not far from last week’s 14-year peak of 103.82.