The U.S. dollar weakened on Monday as investors fretted over remarks made by the White House about a possible shake-up of the Federal Reserve, casting doubt over the future independence of the central bank.
By 08:55 ET (14:55 GMT), the U.S. dollar index, which gauges the greenback against a basket of its currency pairs, had fallen by 1.2% to 98.21. It had earlier slumped to a three-year low of 98.164.
Against the Swiss franc, the dollar dropped by 1.4% to 0.8048, while the euro strengthened by 1.3% to $1.1542. The dollar also dropped to a seven-month low versus the Japanese yen on Monday. Sterling touched its highest mark since September and the Australian dollar jumped to a four-month peak.
Trading was relatively thin as most European markets and others in Hong Kong and Australia were closed for Easter Monday. Markets were widely shuttered for a holiday on Friday.
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett has suggested that Trump and his team are studying if they could fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell. The statement came after President Donald Trump revived a threat to oust Powell from the role, accusing him of not moving fast enough to bring down interest rates.
Last week, Powell said that the central bank was not inclined to cut interest rates in the near future, citing the possible inflationary pressures and economic uncertainties stemming from the new tariffs.
The Chinese yuan’s onshore USD/CNY pair fell, while the offshore pair USD/CNH lost 0.2%.
The People’s Bank of China held its benchmark loan prime rate steady on Monday, in a potential sign of Beijing’s preference for boosting economic growth through fiscal measures rather than additional monetary easing.
The PBOC left its one-year LPR at 3.1%, while the five-year LPR, which is used to set mortgage rates, was unchanged at 3.6%.
(Ayushman Ojha and Reuters contributed reporting.)
