SINGAPORE – The dollar dived on Monday as investor confidence in the US economy took another hit over President Donald Trump’s plans to shake up the Federal Reserve, which would throw into question the independence of the central bank.
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Friday that the president and his team were continuing to study whether they could fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell, just a day after Trump said Powell’s termination “cannot come fast enough” as he called for the Fed to cut interest rates.
The dollar sank to a decade-low against the Swiss franc and slid to its weakest level against the yen in seven months, while the euro surged to a three-year top as an ongoing crisis of confidence in the greenback continued to play out.
Trading was thinned with markets in Australia and Hong Kong closed for Easter Monday. Most markets globally were closed on Friday for a holiday.
“Powell does not report directly to Trump, so (Trump) cannot actually fire him. He can only be removed from office under certain procedures which one would think have a higher barrier… but can the president move the cogs and wheels to undermine the perceived independence of the Fed? Sure, he could,” said Vishnu Varathan, head of macro research for Asia ex-Japan at Mizuho.
“I would argue that they don’t even need to sack Powell immediately. You just need to create the perception that you could fundamentally change the view of an independent Fed.”
The euro peaked at $1.153275, while the dollar hit a 10-year trough of 0.80695 against the Swiss franc and last traded 1.1 percent lower at 140.63 yen.
CFTC data showed net long positions on the Japanese yen hit a record high for the week ended April 15.
Sterling was up more than 0.5 percent at $1.3380, its highest since October 1, while the Australian dollar hit a two-month high of $0.64015.
