Dollar tumbles to three-month trough ahead of Fed Minutes

Dollar fell in European trade on Tuesday against a basket of major rivals, sharpening losses for the third straight session and plumbing a three-month trough amid growing pressures on the greenback, with US 10-year treasury yields tumbling.

The losses came ahead of the Federal Reserve's last meeting minutes, scheduled for release later today. 

The Index

The dollar index fell 0.3% to 103.18, the lowest since August 31, with a session-high at 103.47, after losing 0.4% yesterday on strong selloff pressures, as investors expect the Federal Reserve to wrap up the current cycle of policy tightening. 

US 10-year treasury yields fell over 1% on Tuesday, extending losses for the second session and almost touching two-month lows at 4.381%. 

The developments in the US treasury bonds markets come as markets are fully pricing no changes in US interest rates at the Fed's December meeting.

Richmond Fed President Thomas Parkin said it's likely that inflation will remain stubborn, and could force the Fed to maintain high interest rates for an extended duration. 

Fed Minutes 

Investors now await the Federal Reserve's policy meeting later today, at which the Fed held interest rates flat at 5.5%, already the highest since 2001.

Such a decision was the third of its kind in the last four meetings, and a strong sign that the US policy tightening cycle has ended. 

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the FOMC remains committed to bring inflation towards 2%, and admitted the road to achieve such a target will be difficult and long.