The dollar was broadly higher in early trading in Europe Friday in generally quiet trading ahead of a keenly-awaited speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell at 10 AM ET (14:00 GMT).
At 3:30 AM, the dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, was up some 0.2% from late Thursday's levels at 98.222, with its biggest gains coming against the lower-yielding yen and Swiss franc.
Elsewhere, the Chinese yuan slid to a new 11-year low for the second day in a row, while sterling defended the gains it made in a short squeeze on Thursday on the positive spin coming out of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Powell is under intense political pressure from the White House to cut interest rates aggressively – President Donald Trump has called for a cut of a full percentage point – to pre-empt a slowdown that has resulted largely from Washington's own trade policy and the fading effects of its tax cuts.
Source : Investing.com