Francesco Pesole, an analyst at ING, said in a note that the dollar could appreciate if data released later showed that U.S. core inflation remained high in December. He said that the market generally expects core inflation to be 0.2% and 0.3% month-on-month, with an average expectation of 0.25%. ING expects the data to record an increase of 0.3%, which could fuel expectations that the Federal Reserve will take cautious measures to cut interest rates, thus favoring a stronger dollar. He said that high inflation will make investors uneasy about price pressures before the prospect of U.S. President-elect Trump imposing trade tariffs is considered. (Jin Ten)