Investing.com – The Dollar firmed against its peers and traded near a six-month high against the yen on Thursday as the U.S. Labor Department's expectation-beating inflation report boosted confidence in the world's top economy.
The latest U.S. economic data reaffirmed expectations that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates two more times this year.
The U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, was up 0.04% at 94.76 by 12:11AM ET (04:11 GMT).
Meanwhile, the USD/CNY pair rose 0.15% to 6.6911 on Thursday. The Chinese yuan sank as much as 1.1% overnight and saw its biggest loss since January 2016 amid escalating trade concerns between the U.S. and China.
The latest trade development also pushed the Chinese equity markets into their worst selloff since three years ago.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration threaten to impose tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods. The 10% tariffs will not take effect immediately but will undergo a two-month review process.
In response, China's commerce ministry said in a statement released around midday on Wednesday that it was "shocked" by the latest U.S. trade action and urged international community to work together against the trade bullying, while calling the actions "completely unacceptable".
Looking forward, traders will be watching to see what Chinese policymakers do to defend the Chinese currency. The Chinese authorities made remarks last week to assure markets it would keep the currency stable.
Elsewhere, the USD/JPY pair traded 0.22% higher to 112.24.