Investing.com - The dollar traded largely lower against most major currencies on Monday albeit in tight trading ranges as investors priced in the possibility that softer European and Asian economies could dampen U.S. recovery.
In U.S. trading on Monday, EUR/USD was up 0.40% at 1.2811.
While many investors have priced in a cooler global economy into trading, concerns the U.S. may feel some fallout allowed the dollar to soften on Monday.
Germany’s Bundesbank reported earlier the country’s economy barely grew in the third quarter, as industrial output slowed and business sentiment deteriorated.
In its monthly report the German central bank said that while the euro zone’s largest economy was unlikely to enter a recession the economic outlook for the fourth quarter was cautious.
The ECB launched its new stimulus program on Monday, purchasing covered bonds in a bid to increase liquidity in the region.
Still, the dollar softened against the euro on concerns that even though the Federal Reserve is seen closing its monthly bond-buying program next week, rate hikes may come later in 2015 than once anticipated to make sure cooling European and Asian economies won't seriously dampen U.S. recovery.
Elsewhere, falling European stock indices sent many investors chasing safe-haven positions, namely gold and the yen, which also came at the greenback's expense.
The dollar was down against the yen, with USD/JPY down 0.06% at 106.82, and down against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF down 0.43% at 0.9420.
The greenback was down against the pound, with GBP/USD up 0.51% at 1.6176.
The dollar was mixed against its cousins in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with USD/CAD up 0.04% at 1.1281, AUD/USD up 0.65% at 0.8801 and NZD/USD up 0.78% at 0.7978.
The US dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.35% at 85.01.
On Tuesday the U.S. is to release private-sector data on existing home sales.