The US dollar opened lower as December opened as market players braced for next week's FOMC meeting and speculation over Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's successor.
At 9.50am, the US Dollar Index (DXY) was at 99.372, down 0.11% since it opened early Monday in Asian trading.
Markets are now focused on Bank of Japan (BoJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda's speech for more clues on whether the central bank will signal a rate hike later this month to stem the yen's slide.
Following a multi-hour outage at the world's largest exchange operator CME Group last week that disrupted trading across stocks, bonds, commodities and currencies, foreign exchange markets rebounded on Monday, although movements were largely muted as traders awaited key data releases and events spread throughout the month.
For now, investors are focused on the direction of U.S. interest rates, with the market pricing in an 87% chance that the Fed will cut rates by 25 basis points at its meeting next week, according to CME FedWatch.
The sharp re-establishment of Fed easing expectations, coupled with reports that White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett has emerged as a leading candidate to replace Jerome Powell, continued to weigh on the dollar. The currency posted its weakest weekly performance in four months on Friday.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said there was a strong chance that President Donald Trump would announce his nominee before Christmas.
