The US dollar climbed against the euro after some traders abandoned bets that a slowdown in growth reflected in economic reports this week would push the US currency to a one-month low.
Demand for the dollar rose after it failed for a fourth day this week to breach US$1.24 per euro, said Kurt Magnus, head of foreign-exchange sales at Westpac Banking Corp in London. On Tuesday, the dollar dropped to as low as US$1.2389 per euro after the government said consumer prices unexpectedly fell in July.
"People were prepared for a big storm this week and the storm didn't come," said Brian Taylor, chief currency trader at Manu-facturers & Traders Trust Co. in Buffalo, New York, with US$50 billion in assets. "This week's reports were not good, but they were far from being catastrophic. The numbers show the US economy is still expanding."
Against the euro, the US currency advanced to US$1.2321 at 5pm in New York from US$1.2363 late yesterday and US$1.2374 last Friday, according to EBS, an electronic currency-trading system. Versus the yen, the dollar fell to 109.12 from 109.35. It's down 1.4 percent this week.
Reports this week showed manufacturing growth in New York State and the Philadelphia region slowed, increasing concern oil prices, which reached a record high today, are crimping the pace of the US expansion.
"The energy experts that I've talked to all indicate current prices are abnormally high, something of a bubble, and they ought to recede as the uncertainties get clarified," US Treasury Secretary John Snow said in an interview on CNBC.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's index fell to 28.5 in August from 36.1 in July. At the same time, the survey's gauge of the six-month outlook rose to the highest since January, suggesting any pullback will be temporary.
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