Dollar Rises as US Economy Strengthens

The US dollar rose today, erasing previous decline, against the euro and the Japanese yen after the US macroeconomic reports posted another set of good results and as the concerns for the health of Europe’s economy increased the attractiveness of the currency as the safe haven.

The manufacturing index of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia increased unexpectedly from 22.5 in November to 24.3 in December. The claims for the unemployment benefits declined from 423,000 to 420,000 last week. The housing starts declined from 534,000 to 555,000 in November.

Not all of the reports were good, though. The building permits posted the declined in November from 552,000 in October, while the current account deficit widened from $123 billion to $127 billion in the third quarter. Next week we can expect several important reports, including GDP and consumer sentiment reports.

EUR/USD traded at about 1.3190 as of 16:32 GMT today after it opened at 1.3213 and reached the intraday high of 1.3265. USD/JPY went up from 84.24 to 84.40, following the decline to the intraday low of 83.96.

If you have any questions, comments or opinions regarding the US Dollar,
feel free to post them using the commentary form below.

Be First to Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *