Dollar climbed to nine-month peak as Fed hints at early tapering

On Thursday, The dollar index surged against other majors to a nine-month high at 93.52 in the early European session as Federal Reserve officials see the potential to taper its bond purchase program this year.

The latest Fed’s minute released last night showed the officials might cut back the massive stimulus package this year if the economy continues to improve and meets the maximum employment.

Stock markets in both Asia and Europe fell as the latest Fed minutes sounded more hawkish to investors. The share market in Europe fell more than 1% on Thursday amid fears of an earlier-than-expected tightening of global monetary policy. Earlier today, the Asian stock market sank to its lowest point for this year as well.

This afternoon, we will receive the weekly initial jobless claims data, which should confirm that the U.S. employment market is improving gradually.

There will also be the release of the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index for August, which will likely show a slight improvement for July.