Investing.com - The greenback rose against the world's major currencies on Wednesday after European Union authorities expressed concern if Greece had the political will to push through austerity measures it just approved in parliament.
The greenback also saw support as the market was still reeling from a Moody's decision to downgrade Italy, Portugal, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia and Malta.
Moody's added that Austria, France and the U.K. risked losing their coveted AAA ratings.
In early Asian trading on Wednesday, EUR/USD fell 0.11% to 1.3119.
Greek lawmakers recently voted in favor of accepting austerity measures to gain access to EUR130 billion in assistance funding arranged by the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund to avoid going bankrupt.
The news sent investors rushing to sell dollars in exchange for other assets worldwide, stocks especially, since it appeared increasingly likely that Greece would make a EUR14.5 billion bond payment due March 20.
However, E.U. officials later voiced concern over the possibility that not all political parties may be on board with actually pushing the measures through.
"I did not yet receive the required political assurances from the leaders of the Greek coalition parties on the implementation of the program," Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the euro finance panel, said in a statement, according to Bloomberg.
Juncker also pressed for "further technical work" on Greek budget cuts, Bloomberg added.
The greenback was not without its own headwinds, as U.S. retail sales came in weaker than expected last month.
U.S. retail sales rose 0.4% in January after finishing flat in December, the Commerce Department said.
Markets were expecting a gain of 0.8%.
Furthermore, Italy sold EUR6 billion of bonds at an auction in line with targets, seeing their borrowing rates fal to their lowest levels since March, even in wake of Moody's downgrade, which bolstered the euro against the greenback somewhat.
Add to that German investor confidence hit a 10-month high in February, outpacing many estimates.
The yen, meanwhile, softened against the greenback after the government said it would hike the size of its asset-purchasing firm to ease demand for the currency.
Meanwhile, the dollar was up against the pound, with Cable falling 0.11% to hit 1.5680.
The greenback was up 0.16% against the yen, with USD/JPY trading at 78.56, and up against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF also gaining 0.16% and trading at 0.9209.
The greenback was up against its counterparts in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with USD/CAD up 0.12% at 1.0003, AUD/USD down 0.20% at 1.0673 and NZD/USD down 0.12% at 0.8328.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.05% at 79.60.
Later Wednesday, The U.K. is to produce official data on the claimant count change, an important signal of overall economic health, as well as unemployment data.
Also, the Bank of England is to publish its Inflation Report, and Governor Mervyn King is due to hold a press conference to discuss the data afterwards.
Switzerland is to produce data on ZEW economic expectations, a leading gauge of economic health.
In the euro zone, France and Germany are to publish preliminary reports on their respective GDP rates.
The U.S. is to release a report on the Empire State Manufacturing index, a leading indicator of economic health, followed by data on net foreign purchases of long-term securities.
The Federal Reserve is also to publish data on its capacity utilization rate, an important indicator of consumer inflation, as well as on industrial production before releasing the minutes of its latest policy meeting later in the day.
The U.S. will also unveil data on its crude oil and gasoline inventories.
The greenback also saw support as the market was still reeling from a Moody's decision to downgrade Italy, Portugal, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia and Malta.
Moody's added that Austria, France and the U.K. risked losing their coveted AAA ratings.
In early Asian trading on Wednesday, EUR/USD fell 0.11% to 1.3119.
Greek lawmakers recently voted in favor of accepting austerity measures to gain access to EUR130 billion in assistance funding arranged by the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund to avoid going bankrupt.
The news sent investors rushing to sell dollars in exchange for other assets worldwide, stocks especially, since it appeared increasingly likely that Greece would make a EUR14.5 billion bond payment due March 20.
However, E.U. officials later voiced concern over the possibility that not all political parties may be on board with actually pushing the measures through.
"I did not yet receive the required political assurances from the leaders of the Greek coalition parties on the implementation of the program," Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the euro finance panel, said in a statement, according to Bloomberg.
Juncker also pressed for "further technical work" on Greek budget cuts, Bloomberg added.
The greenback was not without its own headwinds, as U.S. retail sales came in weaker than expected last month.
U.S. retail sales rose 0.4% in January after finishing flat in December, the Commerce Department said.
Markets were expecting a gain of 0.8%.
Furthermore, Italy sold EUR6 billion of bonds at an auction in line with targets, seeing their borrowing rates fal to their lowest levels since March, even in wake of Moody's downgrade, which bolstered the euro against the greenback somewhat.
Add to that German investor confidence hit a 10-month high in February, outpacing many estimates.
The yen, meanwhile, softened against the greenback after the government said it would hike the size of its asset-purchasing firm to ease demand for the currency.
Meanwhile, the dollar was up against the pound, with Cable falling 0.11% to hit 1.5680.
The greenback was up 0.16% against the yen, with USD/JPY trading at 78.56, and up against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF also gaining 0.16% and trading at 0.9209.
The greenback was up against its counterparts in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with USD/CAD up 0.12% at 1.0003, AUD/USD down 0.20% at 1.0673 and NZD/USD down 0.12% at 0.8328.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.05% at 79.60.
Later Wednesday, The U.K. is to produce official data on the claimant count change, an important signal of overall economic health, as well as unemployment data.
Also, the Bank of England is to publish its Inflation Report, and Governor Mervyn King is due to hold a press conference to discuss the data afterwards.
Switzerland is to produce data on ZEW economic expectations, a leading gauge of economic health.
In the euro zone, France and Germany are to publish preliminary reports on their respective GDP rates.
The U.S. is to release a report on the Empire State Manufacturing index, a leading indicator of economic health, followed by data on net foreign purchases of long-term securities.
The Federal Reserve is also to publish data on its capacity utilization rate, an important indicator of consumer inflation, as well as on industrial production before releasing the minutes of its latest policy meeting later in the day.
The U.S. will also unveil data on its crude oil and gasoline inventories.