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Biden, who heads to Brussels on Wednesday for talks with NATO
and European leaders, will push Europe to reduce reliance on
Russian oil and gas, and could announce new sanctions on members
of the Russian parliament over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Oil Prices dipped on Tuesday as the European Union seems
unlikely to agree to a ban on Russian oil which would also
likely weigh on the euro.
"An embargo on Russian oil would increase the likelihood of
Russia turning off the gas tap to Europe in return," Commerzbank
head of FX research Ulrich Leuchtmann wrote, saying such a
scenario could throw Europe into recession.
Leuchtmann said the euro, with the European Central Bank
trailing peers in the global monetary cycle, was bound to suffer
as "the Fed is likely to be far more aggressive in addressing
the inflationary consequences than the ECB".
At 0842 GMT, the dollar index, which measures the greenback
against six major peers, was unchanged at 98.540.
The yield on U.S. benchmark 10-year yields eased to 2.37% in
European morning trading after jumping on Monday when U.S.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell opened the door for raising
interest rates by more than 25 basis points at upcoming policy
meetings in order to combat inflation.
The euro ticked down 0.09% at $1.1022, while sterling eased
0.25% at $1.3230 after touching its highest against the dollar
in nearly three weeks.
British inflation shot up faster than expected last month to a
new 30-year high, worsening a historic squeeze on household
finances that finance minister Rishi Sunak is under pressure to
ease in a budget update later on Wednesday.*
Britain has the second-highest annual inflation rate among Group
of Seven countries, behind only the United States as global
commodity and energy prices soar, exacerbated by Russia's
invasion of Ukraine.
High commodity prices have been a clear negative for the yen, as
Japan imports the bulk of its energy, widening the country's
trade deficit.
The yen slipped to a new six-year low of 121.415 per dollar
overnight but later limited its losses to 0.14% at 120.985 per
dollar.
Against the Japanese currency, the Australian dollar rose to its
highest level since December 2015.
Sweden's crown ticked up against the dollar and the euro as the
Swedish deputy central bank governor, Anna Breman, said plans to
hike the benchmark rate and shrink its balance sheet might need
to be brought forward to tame inflation. [nS3N2TT007)
In cryptocurrency markets, bitcoin and ether were slightly lower
at $42,300 and $2,950 respectively.
(Reporting by Alun John and Julien Ponthus; Editing by Edwina
Gibbs and Edmund Blair)
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