The U.S. Dollar remained predominantly flat on Friday against major rivals as concerns heightened over the health of the U.S. economy and ahead of next week’s Fed meeting on rates.

Investor focus is now on a series of upcoming rate decisions by central banks, including the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of England.

Markets are betting all three central banks will slow down the pace of their rate increases, with 50 basis point hikes expected in the fight against soaring inflation.

According to MUFG currency analysts, major currencies’ volatility levels have moved back towards their long-run average, Reuters reports, as markets begin to price in the likelihood of peak rates in early 2023.

“Part of the decline in volatility we would put down to market pricing indicating most central banks are approaching terminal rates suggesting Q1 will be the quarter when most central banks will pause after roughly 12 months of tightening,” the analysts stated.

On Friday, the Dollar index – measuring the currency against six major peers – was broadly flat at 104.780. It is up around 9.5% for the year to date but down over 6% for Q4, highlighting lower expectations for inflation and interest rates, the Reuters report goes on to say.

Elsewhere, the Euro was flat against the Dollar at $1.05555, near a six-month high reached at the beginning of the week, and on course for a third consecutive week of gains.

The Pound remained broadly unchanged on the day at $1.22460, not too far from Monday’s six-month top of $1.2345. The Sterling increased 0.1% against the Euro to 86.15 pence after reaching a three-month high against the single currency earlier this month.

In addition, the Japanese Yen rose as much as 0.7%, and at the time of writing was 0.3% higher at 136.280.