The dollar is at a two-week high against the yen

The dollar rose to its highest level in more than two weeks against the Japanese yen on Monday, at the beginning of a week full of trade negotiations and central bank meetings.

While the Japanese yen fell to levels it had never reached before against the euro and the Swiss franc.

US President Donald Trump is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday, where the two presidents will make a decision on the framework of a trade agreement reached at the beginning of the week.

As Trump continues his Asian tour, it is widely expected that the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) will cut interest rates after inflation data came in lower than expected last Friday.

“Looking to the future, we believe that the dollar’s ​​rise is likely to continue in the near term,” Mohja Bin Zaman, head of foreign exchange research at ANZ, said in a podcast. “It is very likely that the Reserve Board will cut interest rates at the October and December meetings. So, any cautious statements from the US central bank would increase support for the dollar.”

The dollar rose 0.15 percent to 153.07 against the yen and touched 153.17, its highest level since October 10. The dollar index, which measures the performance of the US currency against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.05 percent to 98.97.

The euro settled at $1.1622, while the single currency rose to 178.13 yen, its highest level ever.

The British pound rose 0.04 percent to reach $1.3314.

As for cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin gained 1.6 percent, reaching $115,157.36, and Ethereum jumped 3.3 percent to $4,198.69.

Trump and Xi are scheduled to meet on Thursday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Jeonju, South Korea, to sign the terms of the trade agreement. Trump will visit Japan on Monday and will hold a summit the next day with the new Japanese Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi.

The Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut its benchmark interest rate, currently at 4 percent and 4.25 percent, by another quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday at the conclusion of the Open Market Monetary Policy Committee meeting, a view supported by lower-than-expected inflation data on Friday.

In Japan, the central bank is likely to discuss this week whether conditions are right to resume raising interest rates as concerns about a tariff-induced recession subside.