2017.09.1814:54:00UTC+00Dollar Mixed As Investors Look Ahead To Fed Announcement

The dollar is turning in a mixed performance against its major rivals Monday afternoon. The buck is up against both the Japanese Yen and the British pound, but has down slightly against the Euro.

There has been little economic data to drive the direction of trading at the start of the new week. Homebuilder confidence came in weaker than expected this morning. Housing data will continue to dominate the early portion of the week, with housing starts set for Tuesday morning and existing home sales slated for Wednesday.

However, the focus of investors remains on the upcoming meeting of the Federal Reserve. The Fed will kick off its two day meeting tomorrow.

Reflecting concerns about the recent hurricanes, the National Association of Home Builders released a report on Monday showing a bigger than expected drop in U.S. homebuilder confidence in the month of September.

The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index dropped to 64 in September from a downwardly revised 67 in August. Economists had expected the housing market index to edge down to 67 from the 68 originally reported for the previous month.

The dollar rose to a high of $1.1911 against the Euro Monday, but has since eased back to around $1.1950.

Eurozone inflation climbed to a four-month high in August, as initially estimated, final data from Eurostat showed Monday.

Consumer prices advanced 1.5 percent year-on-year in August, faster than the 1.3 percent increase seen in July. This was the highest since April and in line with the estimate published on August 31.

Nonetheless, inflation continues to stay well below the European Central Bank's target of 'below, but close to 2 percent'.

The buck tumbled to a 3-month low of $1.3618 against the pound sterling Monday morning, but has since bounced back to around $1.35.

British households' current financial pressures intensified in September amid rising living costs and subdued pay growth, while their outlook signaled the lowest degree of pessimism for seven months, results of a survey by IHS Markit and market research company Ipsos Mori revealed Monday.

The seasonally adjusted Household Finance Index, of HFI, dropped 42.8 in September from 43.4 in August.

House prices in the United Kingdom were down 1.2 percent on month in September, property tracking website Rightmove said on Monday. That follows the 0.9 percent decline in August, and it marks the third monthly drop in four months.

The greenback climbed to over a month and a half high of Y111.661 against the Japanese Yen Monday, but has since retreated to around Y111.410.