Investing.com - The euro fell to fresh seven-month lows against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, as strong U.S. data added to expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next month, boosting demand for the greenback.
EUR/USD hit 1.0577 during U.S. morning trade, the pair's lowest since April 15; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.0589, dropping 0.50%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.0528, the low of April 14 and resistance at 1.0689, the session high.
The U.S. Commerce Department reported on Wednesday that new home sales rose by 10.7% to 495,000 units last month, compared to expectations for a gain of 6.0% to 500,000.
The report came shortly after the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending November 21 declined by 12,000 to 260,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 272,000.
Separately, the U.S. Commerce Department said that durable goods orders jumped by 3.0% last month, easily surpassing forecasts for 1.5%.
Core durable goods orders, which exclude volatile transportation items, rose 0.5% in October, compared to expectations for an increase of 0.3%.
Data also showed that U.S. personal spending inched up 0.1% last month, missing expectations for a 0.3% gain.
Meanwhile, market sentiment remained under pressure after news on Tuesday that Turkey shot down a Russian warplane on the Syrian border. Ankara claimed the SU-24 warplane had entered Turkish airspace, but Moscow has rejected those claims.
Responding to the incident, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the downing "a stab in the back," and warned it would have serious consequences for the Russian-Turkish relationship.
The euro was also lower against the pound, with EUR/GBP declining 0.58% to 0.7015.