US$ at 7-week high on hawkish Fed comments

London

THE dollar hit a seven-week high on Wednesday on hopes that the US Federal Reserve would lift rates this month, after hawkish comments from two of its top officials overshadowed US President Donald Trump's first major policy speech to Congress.

New York Fed president William Dudley, a permanent voter on the US central bank's open market committee and close ally of chair Janet Yellen, said that the case for tightening monetary policy "has become a lot more compelling".