Investing.com - The dollar was little changed against other major currencies on Friday, as investors remained cautious ahead of a string of U.S. economic reports due later in the day, as well as new policy moves by U.S. President Donald Trump.
EUR/USD held steady at 1.0682, just off the previous session’s two-week low of 1.0669.
The euro came under pressure after data on Thursday showed that German annual inflation slowed to 1.6% this month from 2.2% in February, which was the highest rate since August 2012.
The data came after ECB chief economist Peter Praet said the bank is still not convinced that the recent pickup in inflation will be durable and reiterated that underlying inflation pressures remain subdued.
Preliminary data on euro zone inflation was set to be released later Friday.
The greenback remained underpinned by a flurry of strong U.S. data this week, including Thursday’s reports on fourth quarter gross domestic product and initial jobless claims.
Later in the day, U.S. President Trump was scheduled to sign executive orders aimed at identifying abuses that are causing massive U.S. trade deficits and clamping down on non-payment of anti-dumping and anti subsidy duties on imports.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross specified that one of the orders directs a major review of the causes of U.S. trade deficits, including "currency misalignment."
GBP/USD was almost unchanged at 1.2471 after British Prime Minister Theresa May formally began Brexit proceedings on Wednesday, launching a two-year negotiation process before the divorce comes into effect in late March 2019.
Market participants were also looking ahead to data on U.K. fourth-quarter GDP, due later Friday.
Elsewhere, USD/JPY slipped 0.10% to trade at 111.81, pulling away from a one-and-a-half week high of 112.20 hit overnight.
Earlier Friday, data showed that Japan’s household spending dropped by an annualized rate of 3.8% last month, compared to expectations for a 1.7% fall.
A separate report showed that Japan’s consumer price index rose 0.2% in February, year-on-year, in line with expectations and up from a 0.1% gain the previous month.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.08% at 100.36, just off a two-and-a-half week high of 100.47 hit overnight.