The dollar is inching up

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The US dollar index is stronger on Fed day.

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The index is up 0.2% at 97.30 ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee's latest policy decision, which is due out at 2 p.m. ET.

The FOMC is widely expected not to raise its key interest rate at Wednesday's meeting.

Still, Alan Ruskin, the head of G10 FX strategy at Deutsche Bank, argued that, "By the standards set when the Fed first tightened the Fed should be tightening in July."

As for the rest of the world, here's the scoreboard as of 8:13 a.m. ET:

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  • The Japanese yen is weaker by 1.0% at 105.69 after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe unveiled an economic stimulus package worth more than 28 trillion yen ($266 billion). AFP reports that Abe didn't give too many details about the package other than that it would include about 13 trillion yen in fiscal spending. Separately, the Bank of Japan meets on Friday.
  • The British pound is weaker by 0.2% at 1.3100 against the dollar after data from the Office for National Statistics showed that the UK economy accelerated ahead of the Brexit vote, growing at a 0.6% clip in the second quarter, above the 0.5% gain economists were expecting. Still, Pantheon Macroeconomics' chief UK economist, Samuel Tombs, warned: "the second quarter's GDP figure is not as robust as it seems at face value and it won't hold back the MPC from cutting interest rates next week."
  • The Russian ruble is weaker in response to statements from government officials and weaker oil prices. The currency was down by 0.1% at 66.0218 per dollar around 7:54 a.m. ET, after dipping by about 0.9% on Tuesday. Notably, although the ruble has fallen against the dollar over the past month, it hasn't completely been in line with crude prices. And last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin happened to tell his prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, to keep an eye on the currency's appreciation.
  • The euro is little changed at 1.0993 against the dollar.

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