Investing.com - Better-than-expected orders for long-lasting manufactured goods in February boosted the dollar against most major currencies Wednesday by keeping expectations firm that Federal Reserve stimulus programs are on their way out this year while tighter monetary policy may arrive in 2015.
In U.S. trading on Wednesday, EUR/USD was down 0.26% at 1.3791.
The dollar rose after the Commerce Department reported that U.S. durable goods orders rose 2.2% last month, wiping out two months of declines and surpassing expectations for a 1.0% increase.
Core durable goods orders, which exclude transportation items, inched up 0.2%, slightly below forecasts for a 0.3% gain.
The overall data indicated that economy is gaining momentum and brushing off a weather-related slowdown and cemented expectations for the Fed to wind down its monthly asset-purchasing program this year and hike interest rates the next.
The Fed's asset-purchasing program, currently set at $55 billion in Treasury and mortgage debt a month, weakens the dollar by suppressing long-term interest rates.
Meanwhile across the Atlantic, the euro continued to come under pressure stemming from dovish comments from ECB officials on Tuesday, indicating that the monetary authority is mulling policy options to stave off deflationary risks.
Also on Wednesday, a widely-watched German consumer climate gauge remained unchanged last month.
In a report, research group Gfk said that its forward-looking index of Germany’s consumer climate remained unchanged at 8.5 for April from March, in line with market expectations.
The dollar was down against the yen, with USD/JPY down 0.20% at 102.06, and up against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF up 0.21% at 0.8844.
The greenback was up against the pound, with GBP/USD up 0.33% at 1.6582.
The dollar was down against its cousins in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with USD/CAD down 0.49% at 1.1109, AUD/USD up 0.69% at 0.9227 and NZD/USD up 0.29% at 0.8599.
Bottom fishing sent the three currencies gaining after the market priced in weak Chinese industrial output data and fears of policy loosening out of Beijing rattled currency markets worldwide.
The US Dollar Index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.06% at 80.14.
On Thursday, the U.S. is to publish final data on fourth-quarter economic growth as well as weekly data on initial jobless claims and private-sector data on pending home sales.