Thursday, February 18, 2010

US Dollar Gains Ground On Stronger US Economic Data

from MoneyTrading.com.au

US dollar continued its rally on Wednesday morning in New York, hitting a two-week high against the yen, after stronger U.S. economic data fueled bets the Federal Reserve will tighten monetary policy sooner than previously anticipated.

The dollar jumped to the highest level since Feb. 3 against the yen, rising as high as Y91.12. Demand for the greenback pushed the euro well below the $1.37 level, on the back of data that showed that U.S. housing starts in January climbed to the strongest level since July 2009, while industrial production beat analysts' estimates.