The dollar index recovers above 98 mark after briefly staying under the level on Friday morning in Asia amid rising concerns of economic implications of Fed tariff impositions. Federal Reserve (Fed) Governor Christopher Waller has reportedly emerged as the top contender to succeed embattled Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Waller argued the US central bank can 'look through' the inflation impact of tariffs as transitory. He favored a quarter-point cut last week when his colleagues voted to hold rates steady. Meanwhile, data by the US labor department yesterday showed that the initial jobless claims for the week ending August 2 increased to 226K which is above the market consensus of 221K and was higher than the previous week's 218K and increasing bets of a rate cut. The dollar index that measures the greenback against a basket of currencies is quoting at 98.07, down 0.16% on the day. Among basket currencies, EURUSD and GBPUSD are both trading higher by around 0.15% at $1.1671 and $1.3435 respectively. For the week, the dollar index is set for a drop of nearly 1%.

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