The U.S. dollar index was seen giving back the gains on Friday, following the speech by the Fed chair Jerome Powell at the annual Jackson Hole Symposium. The dollar index fully gave up the gains logged from Thursday. In his speech, Powell said that further tightening of interest rates was appropriate. The Fed chair also noted that there was no clear indication of inflation accelerating above the Fed’s 2% inflation target rate.
Economic data was sparse on Friday. The final GDP report from Germany confirmed that the economy advanced 0.5% in the second quarter. Data from the U.S. showed that core durable goods orders rose just 0.2%. This missed estimates of a 0.5% increase. Headline durable goods orders declined 1.7% which was more than the 0.7% decline that was forecast.
Looking ahead, economic data is light for the day. The German Ifo business confidence report will be coming out. Economists forecast that the German business confidence index rose to 101.9 from 101.7 previously.
