Investing.com - The dollar was steady against the euro and the yen on Thursday after slipping earlier in the week when Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen indicated that rates could remain on hold for longer.
EUR/USD was little changed at 1.1355, while USD/JPY edged up 0.08% to 118.95, still below Tuesday’s highs of 119.83.
Investors scaled back expectations for a mid-year rate hike after Yellen said in testimony to the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday that it was “unlikely” that economic conditions would warrant an interest rate increase for “at least the next couple of FOMC meetings”.
She added that if the economy keeps improving as the Fed expects it will modify its forward guidance, but emphasized that a modification of its language should not be read as indicating that a rate hike would automatically happen within a number of meetings.
In a second day of testimony to the Financial Services Committee on Wednesday Yellen reiterated this message, saying that wage growth and inflation must rise before the bank can hike rates, despite signs of improvement in the labor market.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, edged up to 94.3.
In the euro zone, data on Thursday showed that German consumer climate continued to improve in this month as falling oil prices boosted the purchasing power of households.
The Gfk consumer climate index rose to 9.7 from 9.3 in January, and slightly ahead of forecasts of 9.6.
Investors were looking ahead to U.S. data on jobless claims and inflation later in the trading day.