Dollar Gains to Almost 9-Month High Versus Euro on Policy
The dollar strengthened to an almost nine-month high against the Euro after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi signalled monetary policy will diverge from the U.S. for an extended period of time.
The greenback rose against all but one of its 16 main peers as unemployment claims dropped, pushing the average over the past month to an eight-year low. Russia’s Ruble declined to a three-month low as political tension in Ukraine deepened.
“There’s a realization that we’re in a period of euro weakness now that fundamentals are coming in play,” Alan Robinson, global portfolio adviser at Royal Bank of Canada’s RBC Wealth Management unit in Seattle, said in a phone interview.
The euro weakened as Draghi said headwinds facing the economic recovery in the 18-nation euro area are intensifying, after Italy slipped back into recession and the standoff between Russia and the U.S. and its allies escalated.
The greenback gained today as official data showed jobless claims decreased by 14,000 to 289,000 in the week ended Aug. 2, from 303,000 in the prior period, a Labor Department report showed in Washington.
Source: bloomberg
