FX round-up: US dollar continues to gain altitude

The Greenback continued to push higher against all the major crosses at the end of the week despite somewhat dovish Fedspeak and mixed economic data published Stateside.

The US dollar spot index ended the day up by 0.52% to 98.02.

Cable retreated 0.54% to 1.2183 and euro/dollar skidded 0.56% to end at 109.71, while US dollar/yen rose 0.43% to 104.12.

Early on Friday, Boston Fed president Eric Rosengren reiterated his stance in favour of an immediate rate hike, arguing that there were risks associated with overshooting the sustainable rate of unemployment.

"We tended to move around the time that the chair has a press conference. So the next press conference meeting is in December. There's a much higher probability in December," he said.

Rosengren also indicated the Fed could modify its balance sheet if necessary to steepen the yield curve, but stopped short of calling for such action, according to Market News International.

"Price to earnings ratios for stocks and price to rent for residential real estate are only somewhat elevated and are well below previous peaks."

"In contrast, 10-year Treasury rates and commercial real estate capitalization rates are unusually low relative to the past," he said.

Yet later in the day, Fed chair Janet Yellen indicated that there might be benefits in allowing the labour market to tighten further.

Data published on Friday was generally supportive of the US dollar, with retail sales volumes growing by 0.6% month-on-month in September, as expected, while producer prices edged past forecasts in September.

The University of Michigan´s preliminary reading on consumer confidence for October on the other hand undershot forecasts.