Lower consumer confidence hurts US dollar

Story link: Lower consumer confidence hurts US dollar

At mid-afternoon in New York the US dollar remained weaker in relation to the euro and the yen after new consumer confidence data was worse than had been anticipated. The US currency was 0.1 percent lower to ¥117.91 against the yen, while it dropped 0.2 percent to $1.2252 versus the euro.

The Conference Board’s monthly index showed consumer confidence at 107.2 in March after having come in at 112.5 in February. The main component hurting confidence was expectations, which fell significantly, signaling a likely drop in future consumer spending. In addition, new data showed that house prices were down 0.7 percent in January over the same month last year.

The euro was helped by the Ifo survey of business sentiment in Germany, which was up to 107.7 in March. It was 107 in February and had been expected to decline to 106.5 this month. While the shared currency was unmoved in relation to the yen, standing at ¥157.48 after the Bank of Japan’s governor made comments that helped the Japanese currency, the euro added 0.3 percent to £0.6792 versus sterling.

Sterling was also down in relation to the US dollar, dropping 0.2 percent to $1.9662 against the greenback When the bank of England’s governor told the government that growth in the UK housing market is beginning to slow down.

The Canadian dollar gained ground in relation to the greenback after election results showed that separatists are losing support there, although some analysts said that the Canadian currency was also being affected by commodity prices that are on the way up and b cross-border mergers. In any case, the Canadian currency was 0.3 percent higher against the US dollar, to $1.1583. The New Zealand dollar was also higher versus the US dollar, adding 0.2 percent to $0.7178.