Investing.com - The euro rose above the $1.10 level against the U.S. dollar on Monday, after comments made by New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley fuelled bets the Federal Reserve will hold off on raising interest rates until later this year.
EUR/USD hit a session high of 1.1026, the pair's strongest level since March 26, before pulling back slightly to trade at 1.1022 during U.S. morning hours, up 0.46%.
New York Fed President William Dudley said earlier that the timing of a future interest rate hike in the U.S. remains uncertain.
"The timing of normalization will be data dependent and remains uncertain because the future evolution of the economy cannot be fully anticipated," Dudley said in prepared remarks.
His comments came after weaker than expected U.S. employment data on Friday prompted investors to push back expectations for a rate hike in the U.S. to the end of the year.
The Labor Department said that the U.S. economy added just 126,000 new jobs in March, the smallest increase since December 2013 and sharply below forecasts for a gain of 245,000.
A slowing labor market could prompt Fed officials to reconsider a planned increase in interest rates. Last month the Fed indicated that the first rate increase could come as soon as June, but added that continued improvement in labor markets would be a key factor it would consider.
The single currency found further support amid hopes that Greece will repay the International Monetary Fund on time. Athens is on the hook for a roughly €450 million loan repayment to the IMF due this Thursday.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.25% to trade at 96.60.
Later in the day, the U.S. Institute of Supply Management is to release data on service sector activity as investors look for further indications on the strength of the economy and the future path of monetary policy.