Yahoo Finance Dollar Set for Consecutive Weekly Gains for First Time Since November
Investing.com – The dollar was modestly higher against its rivals Friday and remained on track to post consecutive weekly gains for the first time since November. The dollar's rise came as traders digested mostly negative U.S. economic data.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose 0.03% to 96.83.
The end of the week brought mostly negative economic data. A New York manufacturing index topped economists' forecasts, while trade and industrial data fell short.
The Empire State manufacturing index rose 4.9 points in February to a reading of 8.8, the New York Federal Reserve said.
U.S. import prices fell 0.5% in January from December for the month, the Labor Department said Friday. That missed expectations for a 0.1% decline.
Industrial production -- a measure of output at factories, mines and utilities -- fell 0.6% to a seasonally adjusted 109.4 from December's 110.1, the Federal Reserve said Friday. This confounded economists' expectations for a 0.1% increase.
The mostly negative data come a day after the U.S. retail sales fell to their lowest since 2009, adding to expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep monetary policy tightening on hold.
EUR/USD fell 0.22% to $1.1275 after European Central Bank board member Benoit Coeure said the central bank was warming up to the idea of issuing new longer-term refinancing operations amid slowing euro area economic growth.
GBP/USD rose 0.49% to $1.2874, while while USD/CAD fell 0.17% to C$1.3270.
USD/JPY rose 0.06% to Y110.54. But the yen may soon make a comeback against the dollar, if economic conditions in the U.S. deteriorate, analysts said.
"US economic data can have a particularly strong impact on the global economic outlook and the market trend, and a worsening of that data would likely amplify risk-off moves and cause the FX market to shift from dollar appreciation to yen appreciation," Daiwa Securities Group said in a note.
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