The US dollar was little changed on Thursday as traders increased bets on a Federal Reserve rate cut next month, after New York Fed President John Williams suggested that a reduction was possible.

The greenback came under renewed pressure from President Donald Trumps escalating push to exert greater influence over monetary policy decisions, amid his attempts to remove Fed board member Lisa Cook and replace her with an ally.

The dollar held steady against the euro, even after Frances prime minister unexpectedly announced on Monday a confidence vote next month that could bring down his fragile government.

Williams told CNBC on Wednesday that interest rates were likely to come down at some point, but policymakers needed to watch incoming data to determine whether a cut would be appropriate at the September 1617 meeting.

Among the key releases due before that meeting are Fridays Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price indexthe Feds preferred inflation gaugefollowed by the monthly jobs report a week later.

Markets are currently pricing an 89% chance of a 25-basis-point cut next month, with cumulative easing of 55 basis points by year-end already factored in, according to LSEG data.

This has pushed two-year Treasury yieldssensitive to monetary policy expectationsto their lowest since May 1, adding to pressure on the dollar.

Trumps efforts to install carefully chosen dovish candidates on the Feds decision-making committee also weighed on short-term yields, though his move against Cook could spark a protracted legal battle after she filed a lawsuit to remain in her post.

Chris Turner, head of global markets at ING, said: Short-dated US yields remain close to recent lows, and most analysts would conclude that this weeks attempt by President Trump to remove Lisa Cook has been a negative factor for the dollar.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, rose 0.1% to 98.225 after two straight days of declines.

The euro was little changed, down 0.07% at 1.1630 dollars.

Against the yen, the dollar slipped 0.03% to 147.34.

In another development, Japans chief trade negotiator Ryusei Akazawa canceled a trip to Washington at the last minute on Thursday, delaying the announcement of details of a 550 billion dollar Japanese investment pledge in the US tied to a tariff agreement.

A government spokesman said the decision came after talks with the US side revealed administrative-level issues that required further discussion.

The dollar also fell to its lowest level against the offshore Chinese yuan since November, down 0.2% at 7.1360 in offshore trade.