US DOLLAR RECOVERS SLIGHTLY AHEAD OF US CPI TEST

• The US Dollar holds on to Monday’s gain in a first step to recover last week’s losses.
• All eyes this Tuesday are on the US CPI release for February. 
• The US Dollar Index trades just below 103.00, flirting with a break back above this key level. 

The US Dollar (USD) is trading broadly flat on Tuesday, though the quote board reveals very much a red picture when comparing the Greenbacks performance against its individual peers. All losses are very mild though ahead of the US Consumer Price Index data, which will be released later today. Traders will take the numbers to shape expectations on whether the Federal Reserve (Fed) will start cutting interest rates in May or in June.  

The US Consumer Price Index (CPI) will be the focal point for this Tuesday. Monthly headline inflation is expected to come in at 0.4%, with an estimated range of 0.3% to 0.5%. The Monthly core inflation, which excludes the more-volatile food and energy categories, is expected to come out at 0.3%, with estimates ranging from 0.2% to 0.4%.

Expect ample US Dollar strength to pour in should one or both measures come out above the highest estimation. Of course, in the opposite sense, US Dollar weakness will be seen across the board if both measures snap the lowest estimate and come out much lower than expected.