Forex: US dollar stronger ahead of Ben Bernanke’s Senate appearance

_iNVEZZ.com Thursday July 18th:_ The US dollar has been recovering ground today from its losses yesterday following Fed chairman Ben Bernanke’s economic outlook as presented to a committee of the House of Representatives. The US Dollar Index was trading up 0.11 percent in the European mid-morning.

Bernanke is now to appear before the Senate Banking Committee, timed for 15:00 BST, after yesterday intimating that prospects are rising for an end to the controversial fiscal stimulus programme by the middle of next year.
Bernanke told the House Financial Services Committee that the bond-buying programme could be pared back at a “moderate” pace later this year if unemployment continues to fall and inflation also stays on track. Obviously being careful not to spook the markets, Bernanke stressed that there was no ‘preset’ plan to make cuts to the stimulus programme.

The United States’ senior fiscal policy-maker, who is set to retire from the post next January, also highlighted the risk that political stagnation in Washington could hold back America’s modest economic recovery to this point. As he put it in his prepared notes: “The risks remain that tight federal fiscal policy will restrain economic growth over the next few quarters by more than we currently expect, or that the debate concerning other fiscal policy issues, such as the status of the debt ceiling, will evolve in a way that could hamper the recovery.”
Ahead of Bernanke’s Senate appearance and other news still pending from the United States, the major are trading as follows:
EUR/USD – 1.3098;
USD/JPY – 100.14;
GBP/USD – 1.5216.