Investing.com - The dollar was steady against a currency basket on Thursday after the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting showed a rift among officials on the future pace of rate hikes, as markets awaited fresh U.S. economic reports.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was at 95.99 by 07.19 AM GMT (03.19 AM ET), off Wednesday’s one week highs of 96.25.
The minutes of the Fed’s June policy meeting released on Wednesday showed a lack of consensus among policymakers over the outlook for inflation and how it could impact on the future pace of interest rate increases.
The Fed hiked rates at its June meeting and stuck to its forecast for one more rate hike this year and three in 2018, but the subdued inflation outlook has since raised doubts over whether the Fed will be able to stick to its planned tightening path.
Investors were turning their attention to upcoming U.S. economic data for fresh direction.
The U.S. was to release the ADP employment report later Thursday along with the ISM non-manufacturing PMI and a report on initial jobless claims.
The U.S. non-farm payrolls report for June was due out on Friday.
The dollar was little changed against the yen, with USD/JPY at 113.31, holding below the seven-week high of 113.68 set on Wednesday.
The euro was steady, with EUR/USD at 1.1352, up from Wednesday’s one-week low of 1.1311.
The European Central Bank was to release the minutes of its June policy meeting later in the day.
Hawkish comments from ECB President Mario Draghi last week have fueled expectations that the bank is moving closer to scaling back its stimulus program.
Sterling was almost unchanged against the dollar, with GBP/USD at 1.2933.