TOKYO — The US dollar attempted on Monday to pull itself up from a four-week low on the euro after a dovish pivot from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell sent it tumbling more than 1 percent.
The U.S currency added 0.1 percent to $1.1705 per euro, but remained within striking distance of Friday’s low at $1.174225, a level not seen since July 28.
It edged up 0.1 percent to $1.3509 versus sterling, following a 0.8 percent slide in the prior session, and rose 0.3 percent to 147.26 yen, clawing back part of Friday’s 1 percent tumble.
The risk-sensitive Australian dollar briefly leapt to a one-week high of $0.6523 on Monday before pulling back to trade little changed at $0.6490. In the previous session, it surged 1.1 percent.
Powell in a closely watched speech at the Fed’s annual Jackson Hole symposium on Friday opened the door to an interest rate cut at the central bank’s meeting next month.
“Downside risks to employment are rising,” he told an audience of international economists and policymakers. “And if those risks materialize, they can do so quickly.”
Traders are now pricing in 84 percent odds of a quarter-point rate cut on September 17, and a cumulative 53 basis points of reductions by year-end, according to LSEG data.
Traders had ramped up bets on a September cut early this month after an unexpectedly weak monthly payrolls report, but hotter-than-expected producer price inflation and strong business activity surveys forced a paring back in the run-up to Jackson Hole.
