NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The dollar was mixed against other international currencies Wednesday as investors await a report on new home sales and a statement from the Federal Reserve.
What prices are doing: The dollar was unchanged against the euro at $1.4077. It fell 0.6% versus the U.K. pound to $1.6237 and slid 0.1% against the Japanese yen to ¥89.54.
What's moving the market: Traders will look to a report on new home sales for signs the U.S. economy is continuing its slow recovery.
New home sales are expected to have risen in December to a 368,000 unit annual rate from a 355,000 unit annual rate in November, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com. The Commerce Department report is due at 10 a.m. ET.
But the market is likely to remain quiet ahead of the Fed's policy statement, which is due out at 2:15 p.m. ET.
The central bank is widely expected to leave rates unchanged at near zero percent, but investors will scrutinize the statement for any hints about when the Fed may start raising rates again and unwinding its economic support programs.
Traders said the market is also bracing for President Obama's first State of the Union address at 9 p.m. ET.
What analysts are saying. Boris Schlossberg, director of currency research at trading firm GFT, said the importance of Obama's speech for the currency market should not be under estimated.
"President Obama has seen his political capital contract as the electorate is increasingly frustrated with lack of progress on the economic front," Schlossberg wrote in a research note to clients.
"If President Obama cannot regain his political momentum the greenback could lose some of its luster as a safe haven instrument with markets beginning to focus on the disarray in U.S. fiscal policy," he added.
