Investing.com - The dollar was little changed against the other major currencies on Friday, as investors remained cautious ahead of speeches by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi at Jackson Hole.
Market participants were looking ahead to to see if the U.S. central bank chief will offer any clues on future policy moves, although little new information was expected.
More hopes surrounded Draghi's speech and potential indications on when the ECB plans to begin tapering its monthly purchase program.
The greenback was hit this week by fresh U.S. political tensions, after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would be willing to shut down the government to finance a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and that he might terminate the NAFTA trade treaty.
Investors were also looking ahead to U.S. reports on durable goods orders, due later in the day.
EUR/USD held steady 1.1800 after data earlier showed that the German Ifo business climate index fell to only 115.9 in August from 116.0 the previous month. Analysts had expected a drop to 115.5.
The yen was steady, with USD/JPY at 109.62, while USD/CHF slipped 0.24% to trade at 0.9631.
Elsewhere, GBP/USD edged up 0.12% to 1.2817, just off the previous session's two-month low of 1.2796.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were stronger, with AUD/USD up 0.13% at 0.7229 and with NZD/USD adding 0.25% to 0.7229.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD was almost unchanged at 1.2512.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 93.21 by 05:20 a.m. ET (09:20 GMT).