USD Gains vs. EUR & GBP on Positive Outlook for US Economy, Retreats

The US dollar rose yesterday against the euro and the Great Britain pound on positive macroeconomic data from the United State and comments of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, but was somewhat weaker today. The currency was flat versus the Japanese yen today, as well as yesterday.

US jobless claims fell from 379,000 to 367,000 jobs last week, more than experts predicted. The positive data eased concerns caused by the worse-than-expected employment report from Automatic Data Processing.

Bernanke testified yesterday, saying:

Fortunately, over the past few months, indicators of spending, production, and job market activity have shown some signs of improvement; and, in economic projections just released, Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) participants indicated that they expect somewhat stronger growth this year than in 2011.

He added, though, that “the outlook remains uncertain”. Such comment suggests that there’s still possibility of quantitative easing and a weaker dollar.

EUR/USD traded near its opening rate of 1.3144 today as of 6:53 GMT after falling yesterday from 1.3164 to 1.3144. GBP/USD was up from 1.5801 to 1.5823 today, while it declined from 1.5832 to 1.5804 yesterday. USD/JPY traded at about 76.22 — its opening level.

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

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.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