Dollar turns negative as Fed signals optimism about outlook for inflation

The U.S. dollar pared its modest gain on Wednesday afternoon, even after the Federal Reserve said that the consumer price inflation was moving closer to the 2% target. Currency traders had been watching closely for language pertaining to inflation, hoping for signs of additional rate hikes. According to a previous plot of Fed members' outlooks for rates in coming years, the FOMC is likely to hike rates three times in total in 2018. The Fed left its key interest rate unchanged at 1.5%-1.75%, as expected. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index briefly turned negative and was last down 0.1% at 92.340.