The dollar was on track for its best week against the yen in three months on Friday, after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and a chorus of other officials stressed that the central bank may have to hike rates again. A slew of Fed policymakers including Powell said on Thursday they are still not sure that interest rates are high enough to finish the battle with inflation. Investors saw the comments as hawkish, pushing bond yields and the dollar higher. The dollar stood near a one-year high at 151.43 yen USDJPY on Friday. It was on track for a weekly gain of 1.39% against the yen, its biggest increase since August.
“Powell’s speech was quite hawkish, and that just really hit sentiment,” said Tina Teng, market analyst at CMC Markets.
