Investors weigh the outlooks for rates and the economy as the dollar edges up.

The Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and the Bank of England will all be making important decisions next week.

The most important question for traders and investors is whether or not inflation has reached its highest point. If it has, policymakers will have more room to raise interest rates more slowly over the next few months.

Next week, one day before the Fed's policy meeting on Dec. 14, the monthly consumer inflation rate for the U.S. will be released. This could be a key factor in setting longer-term expectations for monetary policy.

"Right now, U.S. CPI is the only data release that seems to really matter for the direction of the dollar as a whole," said Adam Cole, a currency strategist at RBC. "Until we get those central bank meetings and one key monthly U.S. data release, not much is happening," he added.

Most of the major currencies stayed about the same against the dollar. The euro was worth $1.0507 against the dollar, which was the same as before. The pound, on the other hand, fell 0.3% to $1.2171.

The yen, which is very sensitive to changes in U.S. Treasury yields, dropped 0.25 percent to 136.90, giving up some of the 0.4% gain it made on Wednesday.

Since late October, when it hit a 15-year high, the yield on a 10-year Treasury has gone down almost every day, losing almost a full percentage point. In fact, it has taken back about half of the rise that happened between the four-month lows in August and the peak in October, which was around 4.34%.

The price of a barrel of oil has dropped below $80 for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February. This is because people are worried about how much a slowing economy will affect the demand for energy around the world.

Brent crude futures have fallen to around $78, down almost half from their 14-year high of $139.13 in early March. According to the American Automobile Association, gas prices at the pump in the United States hit a record high of $5.116 in June. They are now at $3.329, which is 0.4% lower than they were at this time last year.

Since the price of energy has gone down, so have market expectations for inflation. The 10-year breakeven inflation spread, which is calculated by taking the yield on an inflation-linked Treasury and subtracting it from the yield on a nominal 10-year note, is only 2.27 percent. In April, it was above 3 percent.

The dollar's value has dropped by 6.2% so far this quarter because of these two factors and because people are less sure that the Fed will keep raising interest rates at the same fast pace.

According to data from Refinitiv, this puts the greenback on track for its worst quarterly performance since the third quarter of 2010, when it dropped 8.5%, and its worst fourth-quarter performance since 2004.

Lee Hardman, a currency strategist at MUFG, said in a note, "The price action continues to show that market participants are becoming less worried about risks of inflation going up and more worried about risks of global growth going down."

The 10-year yield was last up 5 bps, at 3.45%. Overnight, it was close to its lowest level in almost three months.

Money markets show that there is a 91% chance that the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets policy, will raise interest rates by a half point next week, and there is only a 9% chance that rates will go up by another 75 basis points. Rates are expected to be at their highest in May, just below 5%.

The yuan, on the other hand, was close to its highest level in almost three months after China announced another loosening of some of its very strict COVID rules.

In offshore trading, the U.S. dollar rose by 0.1% to 6.9670 yuan, regaining some of the 0.34 percent it lost on Wednesday, when the Chinese government said it would ease some COVID-19 rules that have hurt the economy.