Investing.com - The euro was higher against the broadly weaker U.S. dollar on Wednesday as investors looked ahead to the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s March meeting later in the session.
EUR/USD was at 1.0864, up 0.46% for the day.
The dollar slid against the other major currencies amid concerns that the U.S. economic recovery is cooling. Last Friday’s unexpectedly weak jobs report reinforced the view that the recovery is slowing, following a string of other soft economic reports.
The weak data prompted investors to push back expectations for a rate hike to later in the year from midyear.
Investors were looking to the minutes for any indications that Fed officials are concerned over the impact of the strong dollar on the economic recovery.
The single currency showed little reaction after data on Wednesday showed that euro zone retail sales fell in February, snapping four straight months of gains.
The European Union’s statistics agency Eurostat reported that retail sales fell 0.2% in February, in line with market expectations. On a year-over-year basis, retail sales rose 3.0%, also in line with forecasts.
The report said gasoline sales fell for the first time since September, indicating that the boost to consumer spending from lower oil prices may be waning.
The euro was little changed against the yen, with EUR/JPY at 130.2 while USD/JPY was down 0.48% to 119.73.
The yen received a boost after the Bank of Japan left monetary policy unchanged earlier Wednesday despite a slowdown in inflation.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.72% to 97.51.