Investing.com - The euro was little changed against the dollar on Tuesday after data showed that U.S. retail sales rose more strongly than expected in December, bolstering expectations that the economic recovery will continue to strengthen.
EUR/USD rose to session highs of 1.3699 and was last up just 0.02% to 1.3674.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3625 and resistance at 1.3700.
The Commerce Department said U.S. retail sales rose 0.2% last month, beating expectations for a 0.1% increase.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales, climbed 0.7% in December, above forecasts for a 0.4% increase.
The euro rose to session highs against the dollar earlier after European Central Bank Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny said the euro zone economy might surprise to the upside this year.
The ECB revised its growth forecast for 2014 slightly higher in December, saying it expected growth of 1.1%
Meanwhile, data released on Tuesday showed that industrial production in the euro zone rose more-than-expected in November, easing concerns over the outlook for growth.
Eurostat said industrial production rose 1.8% in November, beating expectations for a 1.4% gain, recovering from a downwardly revised decline of 0.8% in October. On a year-over-year basis, industrial production rose 3%, more than double expectations for a 1.4% increase.
The euro held gains against the yen, with EUR/JPY up 0.61% to 141.65, recovering from Monday’s one-month lows of 140.48.
The single currency was trading close to session lows against the pound, with EUR/GBP down 0.25% to 0.8323.
In the U.K., data on Tuesday showed that the annual rate of consumer inflation rose 2.0% in December, slowing from 2.1% in November. It was the first time since 2009 that the U.K. inflation rate was in line with the Bank of England’s official target of 2%.