US Dollar buoyant around 7-month highs, FOMC on sight

The greenback – gauged by the US Dollar Index – has managed to revert the initial negative tone and has recovered the area of fresh 7-month tops above 97.70.

US Dollar focus on FOMC minutes, Fedspeak

Absent significant releases in the US docket this week, all the attention will remain on today’s FOMC minutes and speeches by New York Fed W.Dudley (voter) and Kansas City Fed E.George (voter, hawkish).

Expectations of a hawkish tone from the Committee remain high among traders, while market participants will look for clues regarding the timing of the next rate hike by the Fed and future steps on the normalization of the monetary policy.

It is worth mentioning that according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool, the probability of higher rates in December has climbed to 64%.

US Dollar relevant levels

The index is up 0.04% at 97.73 and a break 98.59 (high Mar.3) would open the door to 99.95 (high Jan.21) and the 100.60 (high Dec.3). On the downside, the initial support aligns at 95.99 (20-day sma) ahead of 95.61 (55-day sma) and finally 95.18 (support line off 2016 low).