The comments follow a slew of data in recent weeks that highlight the strength of U.S. economy along with persistent inflation. Against a basket of currencies, the dollar was last at 106.33, just below the five month peak of 106.51 touched on Tuesday. I'm watching dollar strength and U.S. real yields very closely." On Wednesday, the yen was last at 154.65 per dollar, having touched the 34-year low of 154.79 in the previous session. The Australian dollar rose 0.12% to $0.641, while the New Zealand dollar rose 0.22 to $0.589.

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Persons: Jerome Powell, Powell, Powell's, " Powell, Ben Bennett, Kieran Williams, InTouch Capital's Williams Organizations: Federal Reserve, U.S, Traders, Investment Management, Asia FX, InTouch, CPI, New Zealand Locations: Washington, Asia, JPY, Japan