2019.03.1916:44:00UTC+00Dollar Stays Weak Ahead Of Fed Policy

The U.S. dollar exhibited weakness on Tuesday, extending recent declines, amid concerns about the economy and on speculation that the Federal Reserve will continue to maintain a dovish policy stance.

The Fed is widely expected to hold interest rates unchanged tomorrow and it is being speculated that the central bank will scale back their projection of rate hikes this year from two to one or perhaps even none, due to growing risks from slowing growth and trade conflicts.

The Federal Bank Chairman Jerome Powell's speech at a news conference tomorrow afternoon will provide directional clues for global markets.

The dollar index dropped to a low of 96.29, and although it recovered from that level, was still down in negative territory at 96.37, trailing previous close by about 0.16%.

Against the British Pound, the greenback was weak after data showed the U.K.'s unemployment to have eased to 3.9%. The pound was up by about 0.14%, at $1.3272.

Despite some disappointing economic data out of Eurozone, the Euro was fairly steady against the dollar, gaining more than 0.12%, with a unit of Euro fetching $1.1354.

The Japanese yen was largely flat against the greenback, trading at 111.40 a dollar.

The dollar was weak against Swiss franc and the loonie, while it was up 0.2% against the Aussie.

In economic news today, a report from the Commerce Department showed new orders for U.S. manufactured goods edged only slightly higher in the month of January, due to a drop in orders for non-durable goods.

The report said factory orders inched up by 0.1% in January, matching the 0.1% uptick in December. Economists had expected orders to rise by 0.3%.

The modest increase in factory orders came as durable goods orders rose by 0.3% in January after jumping by 1.3% in December.

Orders for non-durable goods dipped by 0.2% in January after tumbling by 1.1% in December.

The report also showed factory orders fell by 0.2% when excluding the spike in orders for transportation equipment.

Shipments of manufactured goods also dropped by 0.4% in January after slipping by 0.2% in the previous month.

In economic news from Europe, the Eurozone construction output fell in January after rising in the previous two months, reflecting declines in both building and civil engineering segments, data from the statistical office Eurostat showed on Tuesday.

Preliminary data from the Office for National Statistics showed UK employment level climbed to a record high in the three months to January, while the jobless rate eased to its lowest level since the mid-1970s.

Germany's investor confidence rose sharply in March, reversing a steep fall in the previous month, to its highest level in a year, preliminary data from the ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research showed on Tuesday.

The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany rose to -3.6 from -13.4 in February, the Mannheim-based think tank said. Economists had forecast the index to rise modestly to -11.

Meanwhile, on the Brexit front, following the speaker of Britain's parliament banning another vote on same Brexit deal, Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay said that Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit divorce deal would probably not be put to a vote in the British parliament this week.