Dollar extends weakness as anticipation mounts of Fed interest rate cut
The dollar index , measuring the currency against a basket of peers, fell 0.2% to 97.81, its lowest since July 28, extending its 0.5% drop on Tuesday.
U.S. consumer prices increased marginally in July, data showed on Tuesday, in line with forecasts and as the pass-through from Trump's sweeping tariffs to goods prices has so far been limited.
Investors priced in a 98% chance the central bank would ease rates next month, according to LSEG data.
On Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called for a "series of rate cuts," and said the Fed could kick off the policy rate easing with a 50 basis point cut.
The day before, U.S. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly criticised Fed Chair Jerome Powell for not easing rates sooner, had added to the pressure on the Fed.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said that the president was considering a lawsuit against Powell in relation to his management of renovations at the central bank's Washington headquarters.
"I think there is quite significant pressure on the Fed from the political side of Washington to get moving on interest rates," Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at Scotiabank, said.
Michael Pfister, FX analyst at Commerzbank, said these political developments carried echoes of autocratic countries, where heads of statistics agencies or central banks are replaced and critical data series often discontinued or manipulated.
"I'm not saying that this will necessarily happen here. But the developments of the last few days and weeks do not exactly fill me with optimism about the future, or the U.S. dollar," Pfister said.
Trump also hit out at Goldman Sachs (GS.N), opens new tab CEO David Solomon, saying the bank had been wrong to predict U.S. tariffs would hurt the economy. Trump questioned whether Solomon should lead the Wall Street institution.
The dollar's weakness supported the euro and sterling . The single currency was last up 0.3% to $1.1705, briefly hitting its highest since July 28. Similarly, the British currency rose 0.5% to $1.3572, briefly hitting its highest since July 24.
Britain's jobs market weakened again, though wage growth stayed strong, according to data on Tuesday, underscoring why the Bank of England is so cautious about cutting interest rates.
The Australian dollar was up 0.3% to $0.6550, while the New Zealand dollar rose 0.5% to $0.5982.
The Reserve Bank of Australia on Tuesday cut interest rates as expected, and signalled further policy easing might be needed to meet its inflation and employment goals as the economy lost some momentum.
In cryptocurrencies, ether scaled a nearly four-year high of $4,734.47.
"Ethereum's quiet breakout is being fuelled by real-world adoption and capital confidence," said Gracie Lin, Singapore CEO of crypto exchange OKX.
"On our platform, ETH has now overtaken BTC as the most traded asset over the past month."
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Daily Mail
22 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Tesla Model Y review: FREDA LEWIS-STEMPEL on whether it can help boost sales for the Musk owned car firm in Britain
This year has been a controversial one for Tesla. Since the inauguration of President Donald Trump on 20 January the Elon Musk-owned brand has been rarely out of the headlines thanks to its founder's attendance at the VIP event, and his highly-publicised endorsement of 'The Donald' and MAGA. Some Tesla owners have been plastering 'I bought this before Elon went crazy' stickers on their EVs, Trump tried out a Model S on the White House lawn, Tesla stocks nosedived 39 per cent and Musk and Trump have since had a very public breakup – and we're only in August. Among the noise, Tesla has introduced a product it hopes will give the brand a much needed sales and popularity boost; the new Tesla Model Y. The Model Y has been the crowning success of Tesla, becoming both its best-selling model and in 2023 the world's best-selling car – the first EV to manage this. And yet it's taken the Texas-based EV maker five years since the Y first landed on our shores to update it's hero car. The new Model Y arrived in January, and since then Daily Mail Motoring Reporter Freda Lewis-Stempel has driven both the Launch Edition and the Long Range Rear Wheel Drive version to see whether the new Model Y is an improvement on the outgoing version, and crucially whether it can turn the tides favourably for Tesla? What are the differences between the old Tesla Model Y and the 2025 Tesla Model Y? Without too many spoilers, the latest Model Y has been updated outside, inside and across its technology offerings. The exterior marks the biggest change: it's been redesigned with a new front end inspired by the Cybertruck and Cybercab, and features slimmer adaptive headlights, a new lightbar and blanked-off angles. The rear now has C-shaped LED taillights and a full-width reflecting light bar, along with 'TESLA' letting and again a more buffed look. Tesla says the exterior has been beautified for 'exceptional aerodynamic efficiency' with less drag and low-resistance tyres to enhance range. On the surface this gives the new Y a chiseled and sophisticated look compared to the bulbous old Y. It might not sound like a radical makeover, but in the world of Tesla these visual changes are as surprising as your friend with the long, blow-dried locks rocking up with a sharp, French-girl chic bob. The interior has also had both tech and material upgrades, and there are range extensions across the battery options too. But we'll come onto those. The Cybertruck (which isn't available in the UK) is another inspiration for the new Y including the angular front and the lightbar Interior space and practicality – is it still a family-first car? The Model Y's new interior and old interior would make a good spot the difference because so little has changed visually. It's still the big, clean, crisp and somewhat stark cabin it used to be, it's more that there's been an improvement in quality and comfort. The noticeable changes are that ambient lighting has been added, along with an eight-inch touchscreen for rear passengers which has its own Bluetooth, Wifi, and microphones for voice commands and phone calls. The front 15.4-inch touchscreen remains the same but Tesla has brought in new software updates including one that allows you to use your Apple Watch as the car key. The front seats are now ventilated – a blessing on the 31-degree weekend I was driving around Sussex in the RWD – and there's sun reflecting glass which also helps in the summer. Front and rear heated seats are a plush (clearly) winter feature. The seat redesign makes the already comfy chairs that bit more supportive – like the car seat equivalent of a perfectly firm mattress. The addition of a rear touchscreen for infotainment is a bonus and will please kids and adults alike - it has its own Bluetooth and Wifi. It also controls the rear heated seats and aircon Tesla's brought in 20 per cent road noise reduction thanks to new acoustic glazing and softer fabric on the dash and doors and there's very little noise making it's way into the cabin at all, which made the many motorway miles I drove extremely relaxing. Slightly surprisingly the 2025 Y has 20 litres less interior space than the outgoing model. Luckily though you don't notice that as the person packing the car because there's still 2,138 litres between the frunk and boot and the rear seats now fold completely flat, at the touch of a button. And passengers front and back still have ample space, no matter how tall. Neither my 6ft or 6'2 friends had anything bad to say, quite the opposite in fact. 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Tesla sales and popularity Sales have been low since the beginning of the year, with BYD selling more EVs in Britain than Tesla for the first time in January: 1,614 compared to Tesla's 1,458 cars. Then BYD sales in Europe were up 58 per cent in the first three months of 2025, while Tesla's were down 41 per cent in France, 55 per cent in Sweden and Denmark, nearly 50 per cent in the Netherlands and 12.5 per cent in Norway during the same period. This was when early investors called on Musk to go. Despite Musk once laughing at BYD, the Chinese car giant has been a problem for years. It became known as the 'Tesla killer' as far back as 2023 when it dethroned Tesla as the biggest EV manufacturer in the world, and has been pummeling Tesla by bringing out models that directly compete - from the BYD Seal against the Model 3 to the Sealion 7 against the Y. The summer months of 2025 have been filled with tales of Tesla stocks plunging – June saw $150bn wiped off its share price after Trump Vs Musk spat erupted. Then UK sales plunged by 60 per cent in July, with the blame split between Elon Musk's involvement in the White and with hard-right European parties, Tesla's aging car line-up and tougher competition from BYD and other Chinese EV giants. At the same time a poll from EV website unsurprisingly found that three in five drivers are put off buying a Tesla because of Elon Musk. Tesla has tried to pin some of its poor sales on inventory issues, telling This is Money that low volume of registrations in the month of April were due to the company selling out of its UK-spec Model Ys, and the first deliveries of the facelifted Model Y not beginning until the start of May. A spokesperson told us: 'Due to this, numbers reported by SMMT and others will predominantly reflect Model 3 deliveries, with a small amount of Model Y.' 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The Herald Scotland
44 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
One month until TikTok could be banned (again). What you need to know
In late July, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a CNBC interview that if China did not approve a U.S.-drafted deal to sell the platform's American assets, the app would go dark again, once the next ban extension expires on Sept. 17. "If that deal gets approved by the Chinese, then that deal will happen. If they don't approve it, then TikTok is going to go dark," Lutnick previously said. "And those decisions are coming very soon, so let's see what the Chinese do. They've got to approve it. The deal is over to them right now." The White House did not immediately respond for comment when contacted by USA TODAY on Aug. 15. When could TikTok go dark (again) in the US? The next deadline for TikTok to be sold by ByteDance is Sept. 17. Why is TikTok at risk of getting banned? Some government officials are concerned that TikTok poses a national security threat, believing that ByteDance, which is based in Beijing, is sharing U.S. user data with China. TikTok has repeatedly denied these claims. In January, the platform went dark for less than 24 hours under federal legislation signed into law by former President Joe Biden in 2024. Trump has signed executive orders three times now that push back the deadline for when TikTok must be sold, promising that deals with China are on the horizon. The latest was in early July, when Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he was hopeful Chinese President Xi would agree to a deal to see the platform to the U.S. Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Story idea? Email her at gcross@
North Wales Live
an hour ago
- North Wales Live
Shoppers rush to snap up 'excellent' 7ft paddling pool for £4.75 in heatwave
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