The U.S dollar, on Thursday, January 12, slumped to a five-week low below 114 yen and was on course for its worst week since November.
The greenback was hit by a loss of confidence in the U.S. reflation trade which has dominated markets since Donald Trump’s election.
It fell as low as 113.97 yen JPY=, its weakest since Dec. 8, and down 1.2 percent on the day. The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. CURRENCY against a basket of six major counterparts, fell another 0.8 percent to 100.98 .DXY. It had risen to a one-week high on Wednesday.
Speculators had driven the dollar higher on Wednesday in expectation that Trump’s first news conference since his victory on Nov. 8 would give more detail on new fiscal spending and tax measures to repatriate U.S. corporate capital held overseas.
Instead, the event was dominated by debate over Russian hacking and unsubstantiated claims that he had in the past been caught in a compromising position in Moscow. U.S. Treasury yields fell to their lowest since November in early deals in Europe on Friday.
Meanwhile, the euro gained 0.6 percent to $1.0645 after skidding to a 14-year low of $1.0340 EUR= last week.
