The dollar inched higher on Tuesday after a loans survey revealed that credit conditions in the United States were less gloomy than expected, while the pound flirted with a one-year peak ahead of this week's Bank of England policy meeting. The Federal Reserve's quarterly Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey (SLOOS) showed that while credit conditions for U.S. business and households continued tightening at the start of the year, it was likely due to the impact of the Fed's aggressive rate hikes rather than severe banking sector stress.
"The SLOOS results indicate that concerns about an imminent recession may be overblown," said James Smithson, chief economist at Global Insight Research. "This suggests that despite ongoing challenges within certain sectors, overall financial health in both businesses and households remains relatively stable."
The euro was last 0.16% lower at $1.0987 while the Japanese yen slipped 0.1% to 135.24 per dollar. Two-year Treasury yields steadied above 4%, while the benchmark 10-year yield was last at 3.5148%, after rising more than five basis points in the previous session.
Oil prices had risen over 2% on Monday, as fears of an imminent recession in the US eased following the release of the SLOOS.
"We expect oil prices to remain supported by these positive developments regarding US credit conditions," said Sarah Kimball, senior commodities analyst at Capital Economics.
In addition to closely monitoring developments related to monetary policy decisions from central banks around world such as Bank of England and European Central Bank meetings later this week; market participants will also keep an eye on key macroeconomic data releases like employment figures for February scheduled out Friday which could provide further insight into state global economy thus influencing currency rates going forward according analysts interviewed who shared their outlooks today during conversations conducted via telephone or email exchanges with our reporters covering this story live from various locations throughout North America Europe Asia-Pacific regions globally where financial markets remain open 24 hours daily except weekends holidays when most trading activities cease temporarily until next business day resumes operations allowing investors opportunity assess risks opportunities associated investing different asset classes including currencies equities fixed income commodities real estate among others depending needs preferences individual institutional clients seeking advice guidance managing wealth achieving long-term objectives maintaining adequate levels liquidity capital preservation growth strategies designed achieve superior returns adjusted inflation expectations future trends anticipated based historical patterns observed correlations between factors affecting supply demand dynamics.