The US dollar is weakening against multiple major currency rivals to finish the trading week, with economic data and inflation fears in focus. The greenback has mostly defied market expectations in the first several weeks of the calendar year, but the buck has slumped in recent weeks on growing confidence in the global economic recovery. Will the bears be correct and that the early push in 2021 will be nothing but a blip on the long-term radar?

On Friday, the IHS Markit manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipped to 58.5 in February, down from 59.2 in January — anything above 50 indicates expansion. The manufacturing PMI reported stronger client demand, higher export order, and greater output expectations. But employment, inflation, cost burdens, and longer lead and delivery times weighed on the PMI.

The composite PMI edged up to 58.8 this month, while the services PMI rose to 58.9.

On the housing front, existing home sales advanced 0.6% in January, beating the median estimate of a 1.5% drop. In total, the US real estate market reported 6.69 million existing home sales, up from 6.65 million in December.

Speaking in an interview with CNBC, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated that the US economy needs more fiscal stimulus to support the recovery, something that has added to inflation worries.

We think it’s very important to have a big package [that] addresses the pain this has caused – 15 million Americans behind on their rent, 24 million adults and 12 million children who don’t have enough to eat, small businesses failing.

I think the price of doing too little is much higher than the price of doing something big. We think that the benefits will far outweigh the costs in the longer run.

The US bond market was mostly mixed to close out the trading week, with the 10-year Treasury up 0.063% to 1.35%. The one-year bill was unchanged at 0.056%, while the 30-year bond surged 0.068% to 2.144%.

The US Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, tumbled 0.21% to 90.40, from an opening of 90.57. The DXY is on track for a weekly dip of 0.1%, shedding its year-to-date gain to 0.5%.

The USD/CAD currency pair plunged 0.47% to 1.2618, from an opening of 1.2682, at 17:56 GMT on Friday. The EUR/USD rose 0.17% to 1.2114, from an opening of 1.2094.