The U.S. dollar slipped lower Wednesday on declining trade optimism, amid caution ahead of key employment data which could provide clues of future Federal Reserve monetary policy decisions.
At 04:55 ET (08:55 GMT), the Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, dropped 0.2% to 99.002, remaining near its lowest level since late April, seen at the start of the week.
Dollar awaits more trade talks, jobs data
The Trump administration has given a Wednesday deadline for countries to submit their best offers on trade, but the president has also signed a doubling of duties to 50% on imported steel and aluminium.
There was also some optimism in Asia earlier Wednesday that Trump would call Chinese President Xi Jinping this week to provide some energy into trade talks after the two sides accused each other of violating the terms of an agreement last month to roll back some tariffs.
However, this was thrown into uncertainty Wednesday after he criticised the Chinese president in a social media post.
"I like President XI of China, always have, and always will, but he is VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH!!!," Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“Recently, such direct talks have eased trade pressures,” said analysts at ING, in a note, “and in our view, there is potential for a temporary uptick in the dollar after the event.”
