• The Greenback trades on the back foot, giving back Thursday’s gains. 
• Fed Chairman Jerome Powell surprised markets by casting doubts over December’s interest-rate cut. 
• The US Dollar index falls back to the mid-106 level and could face further selling pressure. 

The US Dollar (USD) declines on Friday, breaking a streak of five trading days of gains, as traders engage in profit-taking after the Trump-led rally pushed the Greenback to reach on Thursday its highest level this 2024. 

The USD retreats even as traders are quickly paring back bets of another interest-rate cut by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) in December. The last blow came from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, who in a speech on Thursday cast a shadow over the December rate cut odds by pointing out that the economy is doing great and the job market is looking healthy. Equities across the globe are not digesting this message too well, as this kills off the chances for a year-end Goldilocks scenario. 

The US economic calendar is gearing up for the always-volatile US Retail Sales numbers. With the bigger sales season set to kick off with Black Friday and Christmas shopping, the healthiness of the US consumer preceding that season will be a driver for markets in the short term. The rule of thumb for Retail Sales remains that the revisions from previous months can be more impactful than the actual numbers.