Investing.com - The dollar rose against most major global currencies on Thursday after the U.S. Commerce Department raised its second-quarter gross domestic product rate to 1.7% from an initial estimate of 1.5%, while housing data came in stronger than expected as well.
Trading was choppy, however, as investors bought and sold ahead of this week's Federal Reserve's annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where Chairman Ben Bernanke has unveiled policy moves in the past.
In Asian trading on Thursday, EUR/USD was up 0.02% at 1.2532.
The Commerce Department revised its second-quarter growth rate up two percentage points to 1.7% from 1.5%, mainly due to stronger consumer spending and exports, which prompted investors to buy the greenback on the notion that even though the country's recovery remains somewhat sluggish, the country is advancing.
Furthermore, the Federal Reserve's Beige Book released earlier showed that while manufacturing continues to face some headwinds, the economy continues to recover.
The U.S. will unveil official data on personal consumption expenditures and personal spending later Thursday, and the GDP revisions and Beige Book stoked sentiments the data may surprise for the better.
Housing data surprised on the upside as well.
The National Association of Realtors said its index of pending home sales index rose 2.4% in July, far outpacing expectations for a 1.0% increase.
Year-on-year, pending home sales rose 15.0% in July, beating out market calls for an 11.1% increase, after rising by 8.4% in June.
The data came about a day in the footsteps of bullish home pricing data.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday showed a gain of 0.5% from June 2011, the first annual increase since 2010.
Analysts were expecting the figure to contract 0.1%.
The U.S. data quashed talk the Federal Reserve will roll out a third round of quantitative easing to jolt the economy.
Under quantitative easing, the Fed buys assets from banks such as Treasury holdings or mortgage-backed securities, pumping the economy full of fresh liquidity to drive down borrowing costs and spur recovery, weakening the dollar in the process.
Meanwhile in Japan, retail sales fell more than expected last month.
The Japanese Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry reported that retail sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of -0.8%, from 0.2% in the preceding month.
Analysts had expected retail sales to fall at annual rate of -0.2% last month.
Higher-yielding currencies — the euro especially — saw support amid ongoing hopes the European Central Bank and other entities will craft a bond-buying program to lower borrowing costs in countries like Spain and Italy, though obstacles still remain, namely opposition among German policymakers.
However, despite the bullish data out of the U.S., Jackson Hole loomed large in the session, which took the steam out of the dollar's gains, sending it in and out of positive territory at times.
The greenback, meanwhile, was up against the pound, with GBP/USD trading down 0.03% at 1.5828.
The dollar was down against the yen, with USD/JPY trading down 0.05% at 78.67, and down against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF trading up 0.03% at 0.9582.
The dollar was mixed against its cousins in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with USD/CAD up 0.08% at 0.9902, AUD/USD down 0.21% at 1.0328 and NZD/USD up 0.12% at 0.8014.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.02% at 81.55.
Later Thursday, the U.S. is to produce official data on personal consumption expenditures and personal spending.
Trading was choppy, however, as investors bought and sold ahead of this week's Federal Reserve's annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where Chairman Ben Bernanke has unveiled policy moves in the past.
In Asian trading on Thursday, EUR/USD was up 0.02% at 1.2532.
The Commerce Department revised its second-quarter growth rate up two percentage points to 1.7% from 1.5%, mainly due to stronger consumer spending and exports, which prompted investors to buy the greenback on the notion that even though the country's recovery remains somewhat sluggish, the country is advancing.
Furthermore, the Federal Reserve's Beige Book released earlier showed that while manufacturing continues to face some headwinds, the economy continues to recover.
The U.S. will unveil official data on personal consumption expenditures and personal spending later Thursday, and the GDP revisions and Beige Book stoked sentiments the data may surprise for the better.
Housing data surprised on the upside as well.
The National Association of Realtors said its index of pending home sales index rose 2.4% in July, far outpacing expectations for a 1.0% increase.
Year-on-year, pending home sales rose 15.0% in July, beating out market calls for an 11.1% increase, after rising by 8.4% in June.
The data came about a day in the footsteps of bullish home pricing data.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday showed a gain of 0.5% from June 2011, the first annual increase since 2010.
Analysts were expecting the figure to contract 0.1%.
The U.S. data quashed talk the Federal Reserve will roll out a third round of quantitative easing to jolt the economy.
Under quantitative easing, the Fed buys assets from banks such as Treasury holdings or mortgage-backed securities, pumping the economy full of fresh liquidity to drive down borrowing costs and spur recovery, weakening the dollar in the process.
Meanwhile in Japan, retail sales fell more than expected last month.
The Japanese Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry reported that retail sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of -0.8%, from 0.2% in the preceding month.
Analysts had expected retail sales to fall at annual rate of -0.2% last month.
Higher-yielding currencies — the euro especially — saw support amid ongoing hopes the European Central Bank and other entities will craft a bond-buying program to lower borrowing costs in countries like Spain and Italy, though obstacles still remain, namely opposition among German policymakers.
However, despite the bullish data out of the U.S., Jackson Hole loomed large in the session, which took the steam out of the dollar's gains, sending it in and out of positive territory at times.
The greenback, meanwhile, was up against the pound, with GBP/USD trading down 0.03% at 1.5828.
The dollar was down against the yen, with USD/JPY trading down 0.05% at 78.67, and down against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF trading up 0.03% at 0.9582.
The dollar was mixed against its cousins in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with USD/CAD up 0.08% at 0.9902, AUD/USD down 0.21% at 1.0328 and NZD/USD up 0.12% at 0.8014.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.02% at 81.55.
Later Thursday, the U.S. is to produce official data on personal consumption expenditures and personal spending.