U.S. dollar banknotes.
Liu Jie | Xinhua | Getty
The dollar was firm in Asia on Friday after hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation and hawkish comments from a Federal Reserve official unleashed a wave of bets on aggressive rate hikes, though similar pressures worldwide kept a lid on gains.
Thursday data showed U.S. consumer prices up 7.5% year-on-year in January, a fourth straight month above 6% and slightly higher than economists’ forecasts for a 7.3% rise.
After that, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard told Bloomberg he’d like to see 100 basis points of hikes by July.
Treasury yields leapt and the dollar jumped to a five-week high of 116.34 yen during volatile overnight trade.
The greenback oscillated against other currencies before turning broadly firmer early in the Asia session. The euro was last down 0.2% at $1.1400 and the Australian and New Zealand dollars each dropped about 0.3% in morning trade.
Rates futures have shifted to…
