The Federal Reserve (the US central bank) expects to continue raising interest rates while moderating their pace, according to what its Chairman, Jerome Powell, said in a hearing before Congress.

“Given where we’re at, it makes sense that we would raise rates, but at a more moderate pace,” Powell said at a congressional hearing.

Fed officials’ expectations for average inflation were revised down slightly to 23%, while expectations for core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose to an annualized rate of 3.9%.

Powell’s comments come a week after the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee voted in favor of keeping interest rates steady after raising them 10 consecutive times in just over a year.

The dollar is going down
Following Powell’s remarks, the dollar approached its lowest level in a month against a basket of currencies today, Thursday.

And the dollar index settled in the latest transactions at 102.09 points, close to its lowest level in 5 weeks at 102 points, after falling almost 0.5% in the previous session.

As for other currencies:

The British pound rose near its highest level in a year ahead of the Bank of England’s rate decision announcement later today, Thursday, as the bank is expected to raise interest rates for the 13th time in a row, a day after data revealed that inflation was higher than expected, and dealers are divided as to what Between raising it by 25 and 50 basis points.

The euro rose to its highest level in more than a month at 1.0995 against the dollar, to continue its rise after rising 0.65% yesterday, Wednesday.

The British pound fell 0.1% to 1.2755 against the dollar.

The Chinese yuan stabilized in foreign transactions yesterday, Wednesday, at its lowest level in 7 months, and recorded in the latest transactions 7.1823 against the dollar.

The Australian dollar fell 0.51% to 0.6762 against the dollar.

The New Zealand dollar fell 0.2% to 0.6190 against the dollar.

Gold settles

As for gold prices, there was little change today, as the yellow metal remained close to its lowest level in 3 months, which it recorded in the previous session.

And by 02:42 GMT, gold settled in spot transactions at $ 1932.35 an ounce, and US gold futures fell 0.1% to $ 1942.70.

And the rise in interest rates leads to a decline in the attractiveness of the yellow metal, which does not yield a return.

For other precious metals:

Silver settled in spot transactions at $ 22.6293 an ounce, after it fell to its lowest level since March 22 in the previous session.
Platinum rose 0.4% to $944.96.
Palladium rose 0.1% to $1,348.81.
Oil maintains its gains
Oil prices maintained most of the gains they made yesterday in early trading today, Thursday, while markets assessed a sudden drop in US crude stocks against the possibility of weak demand, with the possibility of further interest rate hikes.

Higher interest rates ultimately increase borrowing costs for consumers, which can slow economic growth and reduce demand for oil.

By 00:15 GMT, Brent crude futures fell 0.1%, to $77.04 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 0.1%, to $72.48.

The two crudes rose a dollar a barrel in the previous session, while corn and soybean prices rose in the United States to their highest levels in several months, and this led to expectations that a shortage of them around the world would reduce blending with biofuels and increase demand for oil.

Supporting the market, US crude oil inventories fell by about 1.2 million barrels in the week ending June 16, sources said, citing data from the American Petroleum Institute. This came against the expectations of analysts, an increase of 300 thousand barrels.