Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was hovering near three-year lows against other major currencies on Friday, as fresh concerns over the U.S. deficit weighed on the greenback and as investors eyed the release of U.S. housing sector data due later in the day.
The greenback turned broadly lower due to mounting concerns over the deficit in the U.S., which is projected to climb near $1 trillion in 2019 following the announcement of infrastructure spending and large corporate tax cuts.
The dollar had initially strengthened after the U.S. Commerce Department reported on Wednesday that consumer prices rose more than expected in January by 0.5%, sending U.S. bond yields higher.
Data on Thursday showed that the U.S. producer price index rose in line with expectations by 0.4% last month.
Rising inflation would be a catalyst to push the Federal Reserve toward raising interest rates at a faster pace than currently expected.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.12% at 88.36 by 05:15 a.m. ET (09:15 GMT), just off a three-year trough of 88.16 hit overnight.
USD/JPY was down 0.11% at 105.99, the weakest level since November 2016, while USD/CHF fell 0.29% to 0.9197.
Elsewhere, the euro and the pound were higher, with EUR/USD up 0.23% at 1.2533, while GBP/USD held steady at 1.4102.
Earlier Friday, the UK Office for National Statistics reported that retail sales rose 0.1%, disappointing expectations for an increase of 0.5%.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were stronger, with AUD/USD up 0.52% at 0.7985 and with NZD/USD rising 0.31% to 0.7431.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD shed 0.25% to trade at 1.2458.