News: FOREX-Dollar rally fizzles as investors eye stimulus talks in Washington

• Dollar index on pace to snap 2-day rising streak
• Top Senate Democrat says COVID-19 relief talks 'moving in the right direction'

(New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments to U.S. afternoon trading)

The U.S. dollar edged lower in choppy trade against a basket of currencies on Tuesday, choking off a recent rally fueled by dollar bears taking profits on short positions, while investors watched talks in Washington on the next round of coronavirus relief.

After its biggest monthly decline in a decade in July, the greenback started August on a firmer note as some investors trimmed short positions.

But the immediate outlook for the dollar remains tied partly to relief aid talks in Washington and the economic impact of new virus cases in the United States.

The White House and Democratic congressional leaders have reported some progress in discussions over a fifth major coronavirus aid bill, but they remain apart on a range of issues.

The U.S. Dollar Currency Index =USD , which measures the greenback's strength against six major currencies, was 0.16% lower after rising 0.6% over the previous two sessions.

"While a consolidation or a modest corrective rebound was inevitable after the sharp fall last month, market sentiment towards the dollar remains negative due to dominating concerns about the scale of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. and its devastating impact on the economy," Piotr Matys, senior emerging markets FX Strategist at Rabobank, said in a note.

Despite a slowdown in new U.S. virus cases and encouraging factory data, investors remained concerned about the U.S. economy. The next big U.S. data points will be weekly jobless claims and the July U.S. employment report this week, said Boris Schlossberg, managing director of FX strategy at BK Asset Management in New York.

The Aussie dollar AUD=D3 was up 0.44% after the Australian central bank held policy steady.

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	Currency bid prices at 2:59PM (1859 GMT) 

 Description	  RIC		 Last		   U.S. Close  Pct Change	 YTD Pct	 High Bid	Low Bid 
											  Previous				   Change				  
											  Session											
 Euro/Dollar	  EUR=		$1.1780		$1.1761	 +0.16%		 +0.00%	  +1.1806	 +1.1722 
 Dollar/Yen	   JPY=		105.7700	   105.9400	-0.16%		 +0.00%	  +106.1900   +105.7200 
 Euro/Yen		 EURJPY=	 124.61		 124.61	  +0.00%		 +0.00%	  +125.0100   +124.2700 
 Dollar/Swiss	 CHF=		0.9145		 0.9177	  -0.35%		 +0.00%	  +0.9191	 +0.9142 
 Sterling/Dollar  GBP=		1.3054		 1.3072	  -0.14%		 +0.00%	  +1.3107	 +1.2982 
 Dollar/Canadian  CAD=		1.3347		 1.3389	  -0.31%		 +0.00%	  +1.3420	 +1.3346 
 Australian/Doll  AUD=		0.7152		 0.7123	  +0.44%		 +0.00%	  +0.7158	 +0.7106 
 ar																							  

 Euro/Swiss	   EURCHF=	 1.0774		 1.0793	  -0.18%		 +0.00%	  +1.0810	 +1.0740 
 Euro/Sterling	EURGBP=	 0.9024		 0.8994	  +0.33%		 +0.00%	  +0.9040	 +0.8991 
 NZ			   NZD=		0.6608		 0.6610	  -0.03%		 +0.00%	  +0.6624	 +0.6590 
 Dollar/Dollar																				   

 Dollar/Norway	NOK=		9.1076		 9.1306	  -0.25%		 +0.00%	  +9.1671	 +9.0887 
 Euro/Norway	  EURNOK=	 10.7316		10.7410	 -0.09%		 +0.00%	  +10.7700	+10.7128 
 Dollar/Sweden	SEK=		8.7400		 8.7394	  +0.10%		 +0.00%	  +8.7850	 +8.7184 
 Euro/Sweden	  EURSEK=	 10.2971		10.2867	 +0.10%		 +0.00%	  +10.3044	+10.2744 
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GRAPHIC: World FX rates in 2020	https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E 

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