August 25, 2009
The dollar rose against most major currencies on Monday as investors are expecting more signs of economic recovery from data due later this week.
No important economic data was released on Monday. The Conference Board will report its consumer confidence index for August on Tuesday. The U.S. Commerce Department will report durable goods orders and new home sales on Wednesday.
Reports about revised U.S. GDP data of the second quarter, personal income and consumption, and Michigan consumer sentiment index are also coming this week.
In the past months, foreign exchange investors took the dollar as a safety haven currency. The dollar moved in opposite direction with stocks as good news boost stock prices and hurt safety haven demand for the dollar.
Analysts said this type of trade may not last for much longer. Vassili Serebriakov, currency strategist with Wells Fargo, said if the downturn is really nearing an end, investors should soon conclude that an economic recovery is good news for the greenback.
"Even if stocks do rally further, that may not be a negative. The dollar could stabilize because the U.S. economy is stabilizing," he said.
The euro bought 1.4288 dollars in late New York trading compared with 1.4336 dollars it bought late Friday. The pound fell to 1.6396 dollars from 1.6482 dollars.
The dollar fell to 1.0773 Canadian dollars from 1.0827 Canadian dollars, and rose to 1.0634 Swiss francs from 1.0572 Swiss francs. It rose to 94.54 Japanese yen from 94.24 Japanese yen.