2017.12.1314:51:00UTC+00Dollar Remains Down After Fed Hikes Rates

The dollar is down against all of its major rivals Wednesday afternoon. As expected, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised the benchmark U.S. interest rate to a range of 1.25% to 1.5%, but struck a dovish tone on future rate hikes amid stubbornly low inflation.

Crucially, the Fed maintained earlier forecast for just three 1/4-point rate hikes in 2018.

"Averaging through hurricane-related fluctuations, job gains have been solid, and the unemployment rate declined further," the Fed's statement read.

"Household spending has been expanding at a moderate rate, and growth in business fixed investment has picked up in recent quarters."

Consumer prices in the U.S. increased in line with economist estimates in the month of November, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Wednesday. The Labor Department said its consumer price index rose by 0.4 percent in November after inching up by 0.1 percent in October.

The dollar has dropped to around $1.1790 against the Euro Wednesday afternoon, from an early high of $1.1729.

Eurozone industrial production increased unexpectedly in October, after falling in the previous month, data from Eurostat showed Wednesday.

Industrial production rose a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent month-on-month in October, reversing September's 0.5 percent fall, which was revised from a 0.6 percent decline reported earlier.

Meanwhile, economists had expected production to remain flat during October.

Eurozone employment grew at a steady pace in the third quarter to a record high level, preliminary data from Eurostat showed Wednesday. Employment rose 0.4 percent from the previous quarter, when the increase was the same. Jobs grew 0.5 percent in the first quarter of the year.

Germany's consumer price inflation accelerated as initially estimated in November, final data from Destatis showed Wednesday. The consumer price index rose 1.8 percent year-on-year following 1.6 percent increase in October.

The buck has declined to around $1.3385 against the pound sterling Wednesday afternoon, from a high of $1.3310 this morning.

The UK unemployment rate remained at the lowest level in more than four decades during the three months to October and the annual growth in earnings accelerated but remained well below inflation.

Data from the Office for National Statistics on Thursday showed that the ILO jobless rate was 4.3 percent in the three months to October, the same rate as in the July quarter. The rate was in line with expectations and was the lowest since March to May 1975.

The greenback reached an early high of Y113.537 against the Japanese Yen Wednesday, but has since retreated to around Y112.835.

The value of core machine orders in Japan jumped a seasonally adjusted 5.0 percent on month in October, the Cabinet Office said on Wednesday, standing at 850.9 billion yen. That beat forecasts for a gain of 2.7 percent following the 8.1 percent decline in September.