2018.10.1015:04:00UTC+00Dollar Falling After Early Gains Evaporate

The dollar got off to a positive start against its major rivals Wednesday, but has since pared its gains and turned lower. After a data drought at the start of the week, investors were presented with a pair of U.S. economic reports this morning.

With an increase in prices for services offsetting a modest drop in prices for goods, the Labor Department released a report on Wednesday showing producer prices in the U.S. rose in line with economist estimates in the month of September.

The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand increased by 0.2 percent in September after edging down by 0.1 percent in August. Economists had expected prices to rise by 0.2 percent.

A report released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday showed a bigger than expected increase in wholesale inventories in the U.S. in the month of August. The Commerce Department said wholesale inventories jumped by 1.0 percent in August after rising by 0.6 percent in July. Economists had expected wholesale inventories to climb by 0.8 percent.

The dollar rose to an early high of $1.1477 against the Euro Wednesday, but has since retreated to around $1.1525.

France's industrial production grew at the slowest pace in three months in August, the statistical office Insee showed Wednesday. Industrial production climbed 0.3 percent from July, the weakest since May when it remained flat. Production had increased 0.8 percent in July.

Britain's ITV News reported late Tuesday that a deal on a Brexit withdrawal agreement could be reached at the EU council next week, if the U.K. and the EU agree on Irish border issue.

Substantial progress in talks have been made on contentious Irish border "backstop," the report said, adding that the EU appeared close to agreeing that the backstop would apply to the whole UK, instead of N. Ireland alone - or at least it would apply to the whole UK for customs.

The buck reached an early high of $1.3135 against the pound sterling, but has since pulled back to around $1.32.

The UK economy stagnated in August as the increase in industrial production was offset by a contraction in construction and farm sectors, the Office for National Statistics reported Wednesday. Gross domestic product remained unchanged after expanding 0.4 percent in July. GDP was forecast to climb 0.2 percent.

The UK's merchandise trade deficit widened in August from the previous month and was bigger than economists expected, preliminary data from the Office for National Statistics showed on Wednesday. The visible trade deficit widened to GBP 11.19 billion from GBP 10.38 billion in July. Economists had expected a shortfall of GBP 10.8 billion.

The greenback climbed to a high of Y113.282 against the Japanese Yen Wednesday morning, but has since eased back to around Y112.550.

The total value of core machine orders in Japan spiked a seasonally adjusted 6.8 percent on month in August, the Cabinet Office said on Wednesday, worth 981.5 billion yen. That beat expectations for a decline of 3.9 percent following the 11.0 percent spike in July.