🔴 The U.S. dollar rose to a two-week high on Wednesday, underpinned by elevated U.S. Treasury yields, as investors questioned the market expectation of six interest rate cuts in 2024. Trading was relatively subdued, with Japanese markets shut for a holiday and investors waiting for important U.S. economic releases later in the day, including minutes from the Federal Reserve's December meeting. The dollar, however, came off its highs after data showed the U.S. manufacturing sector contracted further in December although the pace of decline has slowed.
The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said on Wednesday its manufacturing PMI increased to 47.4 last month after being unchanged at 46.7 for two straight months. It was the 14th consecutive month that the PMI has stayed below 50, which indicates contraction in manufacturing. That is the longest such stretch since the period from August 2000 to January 2002. At the same time, U.S. job openings fell for the third straight month in November. Job openings, a measure of labor demand, dropped 62,000 to 8.790 million on the last day of November, the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, on Wednesday. A drop in inflation and a dovish tilt in the Federal Reserve's December policy meeting fueled bets for U.S. rate cuts in 2024, undermining the greenback and sparking a rally in Treasuries and stocks in November and December. The dollar index hit a five-month low of 100.61 last week.