Forex - Dollar slips on soft data, U.S. stock-market gains
Published Dec 23, 2013 02:45PM ET
In U.S. trading on Monday, EUR/USD was up 0.18% at 1.3696.
The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's overall consumer sentiment index held at 82.5 in December, unchanged from an initial estimate, though analysts were hoping for the index to climb to 83.0.
The reading weakened the dollar, especially on a day of rising U.S. stock prices, which further diminished the dollar's appeal after investors ditched safe-haven greenback positions to take on risk on the assumption that even though the consumer-sentiment index missed expectations, it still remains high.
The Michigan consumer sentiment index stood at 75.1 in November.
Elsewhere, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that U.S. personal spending rose 0.5% last month, in line with consensus forecasts. Personal spending for October was revised up to a 0.4% gain from a previously reported increase of 0.3%.
The report also showed personal income rose 0.2% in November, missing expectations for a 0.5% increase, after falling by 0.1% in October.
While the day's data allowed for a moderate dollar selloff, the greenback continued to enjoy support from the Fed's decision to begin scaling down its bond-buying in January.
Fed bond purchases aim to spur recovery by pushing down long-term interest rates, weakening the dollar in the process.
The U.S. central bank reiterated that interest rates are likely to remain low even after the unemployment rate drops below 6.5%, the threshold at which the Fed has previously said it would start to consider tightening policy.
Elsewhere, the greenback was down against the pound, with GBP/USD up 0.14% at 1.6352.
The dollar was down against the yen, with USD/JPY down 0.04% at 104.06, and down against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF down 0.25% at 0.8940.
The dollar was down against its cousins in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with USD/CAD down 0.31% at 1.0604, AUD/USD up 0.10% at 0.8932 and NZD/USD trading up 0.07% at 0.8206.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.23% at 80.56.
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Written By: Investing.com
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