US dollar strengthens against euro

Story link: US dollar strengthens against euro

The US dollar gained on the euro on Tuesday as expectations grow that the US Federal Reserve will indicate that it is near the end of its series of interest rate cuts.

The greenback was also helped by new data from the Conference Board showing that US consumer confidence was down less than had been anticipated in April, when the index dropped to 62.3, from 65.9 in March.

Even with less of a decline than expected, however, consumer confidence in the United States is at a 5-year low.

At just past 11:30 a.m. in New York, the dollar traded at $1.5592 to the euro after touching a three-week high at $1.5541 earlier.

On the other hand, the dollar dropped versus the yen, to ¥103.5300, while the euro was over 1 percent lower in relation to the Japanese currency to ¥161.4292.

The pound weakened on a report from the Bank of England that new loans for home purchases were at their lowest in 9 years in March with only 64,000 new loans granted, compared to 72,000 granted in February.

The news increased sentiment that there will be more UK interest rate cuts soon.

In late morning trade in New York, it took $1.9735 to buy a pound while the UK currency traded at 79.04p to the euro.

The Australia and New Zealand dollars saw declines versus the US dollar and the yen, with the kiwi hurt by the probability that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand will cut interest rates in June and the Aussie taken lower by a decline in leading economic indicators for the third consecutive month in February.

At late morning in New York, the Aussie bought 93.40 cents US or ¥96.6970, while the kiwi was worth 77.53 cents US or ¥880.265.