US dollar up on week
March 24, 2006
The US dollar saw gains this week even though new data on new home sales provided a bit of uncertainty on Friday. Much of the greenback’s recovery from losses last week came on comments from new US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s comments that the economy is healthy, which translated in some people’s minds to an endorsement of the dollar as well. Mr. Bernanke’s comments were also taken by most to mean that interest rates will be going up again when the Fed meets next week, despite the weak home sales data.
The US currency was up 1.3 percent during the week to $1.2028 in relation to the euro. It gained 1.5 percent versus the Japanese yen, to ¥117.57. The dollar added 0.9 percent to $1.7411 versus sterling, and advanced by 1.6 percent to SFr1.3112 in relation to the Swiss franc.