Investing.com - The U.S. dollar pushed lower against other major currencies on Monday, as caution dominated ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's first congressional testimony scheduled later in the week.
The greenback had strengthened broadly after the minutes of the Fed's January policy meeting showed last week that central bank officials see increased economic growth and rising inflation as justification to continue to raise interest rates gradually.
But traders became more cautious as Powell was set to testify on the central bank's semi-annual report on monetary policy and the economy on Tuesday before the U.S. House of Representatives' Financial Services Committee.
The U.S. dollar also weakened as the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield continued to pull away from last week's four-year high of 2.957%.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.33% at 89.51 by 05:15 a.m. ET (09:15 GMT), the lowest since February 20.
The euro and the pound were higher, with EUR/USD up 0.28% at 1.2339 and with GBP/USD advancing 0.56% to 1.4054.
The pound remained supported after the Bank of England’s deputy governor said over the weekend that interest rates might need to rise sooner than expected if wages grow as fast the central bank expects in the early part of 2018.
Elsewhere, the yen and the Swiss franc were also stronger, with USD/JPY shedding 0.15% to 106.63 and with USD/CHF sliding 0.27% to 0.9335.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were higher, with AUD/USD up 0.46% at 0.7874 and with NZD/USD gaining 0.63% to 0.7338.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD fell 0.23% to trade at 1.2625.