Investing.com - The U.S. dollar surged against its major counterparts during Friday morning trade, as mixed economic signals triggered a flight to the safety of the greenback
During U.S. morning trade, the dollar was sharply higher against the euro, with EUR/USD plunging 0.91% to hit 1.3193.
In economic news, euro zone producer price inflation climbed more than expected to a seasonally adjusted 0.7% last month from -0.2% the preceding month.
Analysts had forecast euro zone PPI to only rise to 0.5% last month.
Meanwhile, at the European Union summit in Brussels, euro zone heads declared a turning point in the debt crisis.
EU President Herman Van Rompuy stated, “Targets on deficits are intermediate targets, no aim in itself. The restoration of confidence in the future of the euro zone will lead to economic growth. That is our ultimate objective.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel changed her stance on slowing down payment for the EUR500 billion permanent rescue fund to speeding up the payments at the summit.
Known as the European Financial Stability Facility, the permanent fund will go into operation in July.
The greenback traded higher against the yen and the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY advancing 0.59% to strike 81.60 and USD/CHF soaring 0.97% to hit 0.9148.
The greenback was higher against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD climbing 0.25% to hit 0.9879, AUD/USD falling 0.57% to hit 1.0747 and NZD/USD giving back 0.73% to hit 0.8334.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, traded higher 0.71% to hit 79.40.