2019.08.1316:25:00UTC+00U.S. Dollar Jumps On Delay In Tariffs On Certain Chinese Products

With traders reacting to the latest news on the trade front, the value of the U.S. dollar has shown a significant move to the upside during trading on Tuesday.

Currently, the greenback is trading at 106.67 yen compared to the 105.30 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Monday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1172 compared to yesterday's $1.1214.

The jump in the value of the dollar came after U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer offered a temporary reprieve from concerns about the U.S.-China trade war by announcing a delay in imposing new tariffs on certain Chinese products.

Lighthizer said the 10 percent tariff set to take effect on September 1st should be delayed until December 15th for certain products.

The products benefiting from the delay include cell phones, laptop computers, video game consoles, certain toys, computer monitors, and certain items of footwear and clothing.

Additionally, the USTR announced certain unidentified products will be removed from the tariff list entirely based on health, safety, national security and other factors.

Lighthizer said the delay is part of the USTR's public comment and hearing process and noted it intends to conduct an exclusion process for products subject to the additional tariffs.

The announcement comes less than two weeks after President Donald Trump announced plans to impose a 10 percent tariff on the remaining $300 billion worth of Chinese imports.

Trump told reporters the delay comes amid concerns the tariffs could impact U.S. customers during the holiday shopping season even though he has repeatedly claimed the trade dispute has not hurt Americans.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report showing consumer prices rose in line with economist estimates in the month of July, although the report also showed another bigger than expected increase in core consumer prices.

The Labor Department said its consumer price index climbed by 0.3 percent in July after inching up by 0.1 percent in both May and June. Economists had expected prices to rise by 0.3 percent.

Excluding food and energy prices, core consumer prices also rose by 0.3 percent for the second consecutive month, while economists had expected a 0.2 percent uptick.

Andrew Hunter, Senior U.S. Economist at Capital Economics, said the bigger than expected increase in core prices "suggests that underlying inflationary pressures may not be as subdued as is widely assumed."

"Provided that the incoming activity data continue to deteriorate, however, the Fed still looks likely to cut interest rates again next month," Hunter said.

The report showed the annual rate growth in both consumer prices and core consumer prices accelerated to 1.8 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively.