Dollar and euro near flat ahead of Central Bank Meetings

The USD and the euro were stable on Monday in Asia as traders awaited the central bank meetings due later this week.

The U.S Dollar index changed little at 97.685 by 03:57 GMT. Markets expect the Fed Reserve to keep rates steady on Wednesday when the policy meeting concludes.

The Fed Reserve cut rates three times this year to shield the U.S economy from the global slowdown.

The Fed Chair Jerome Powell said both the policy and the economy were in a right place and indicated that policymakers saw little to cut rates further. Jerome said this in October after the last rate cut.

“I think they are feeling really good right now that they’ve decided to put this thing on pause,” said Tom Porcelli.

Tom is the chief U.S. economist at RBC Capital Markets in New York.

American consumer price inflation data

The American consumer price inflation is due this week ahead of the Fed meeting. The data is expected to show inflation running at 2% and retails sales numbers on Friday to show a 0.4% growth.

The USD/CNY pair was up 0.01% to trade at 7.0329 after data showed a 1.1% drop in the country’s exports in November compared to the expected 1.0% expansion.

Meanwhile, the EUR/USD pair was also near flat at 1.1056.

Christine Lagarde will hold her first meeting and news conference as European Central Bank (ECB) president on Thursday.

The ECB is not expected to make any significant changes to the monetary policy. However, traders will pay attention to Lagarde’s speech for her thoughts on the monitory policy outlook, the economy, and the upcoming strategy review.

The GBP/USD pair inched up 0.1% to 1.3143 as traders continued to await a U.K. general election this week. The outcome will determine the course of Brexit.

The USD/JPY pair was unchanged at 108.57.

The AUD/USD pair and the NZD/USD pair both slipped 0.1%.