Investing.com -- The U.S. dollar posted its strongest daily gain against the euro in more than 10 days, amid strong consumer sentiment and a lack of progress in negotiations between Greece and its euro zone creditors.
Currency traders, meanwhile, await a potential deal regarding the destabilization of the Iranian nuclear program, after the White House announced it could extend the deadline with Iran into Wednesday if negotiations remained productive.
EUR/USD fell more than 0.9% in U.S. afternoon trading to 1.0733, its largest one-day decline since Mar. 19. The currency pair also reached its lowest level since Mar. 20 when relatively dovish comments from Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen spurred a brief rally in the euro.
EUR/USD likely received support at 1.05 its low from Mar. 11 and resistance at 1.14 its high from mid-February.
The dollar continued to edge upward on Tuesday after the release of strong consumer data. The Conference Board, a private research group, said its Consumer Confidence Index increased to 101.3 in March, up from a revised level of 98.8 in February. In a survey with the Wall Street Journal, economists had expected the index to tick up to 96.8 for the month.
In addition, consumer expectations for economic activity over the next six months of 2015 surged to 96.0, up from a revised level of 90.0. Economists had predicted that the level would fall to 87.2 for the month.
The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, rose to 98.78 – marking its four consecutive daily increase. The index gained nearly 11% for the first quarter of 2015, which came to a close on Tuesday.
In Europe, officials from the European Union and International Monetary Fund (IMF) described a set of austerity measures submitted by Greece at the end of last week as a list of ideas rather than a concrete plan. Greece's creditors have deemed the reforms necessary in order to unlock critical financial aid. The two sides reportedly remain far apart on critical issues such as Greek pension reform and debt relief.
Greece is running out of time before a €450 mil payment is due to the IMF next week.
Yields on U.S. Treasuries fell sharply on Tuesday. Yields on U.S. 10-Year Treasuries fell 0.034 to 1.927, while yields on the U.S. 30-Year Treasuries dropped 0.015 to 2.54. Yields on U.S. 2-Year Treasuries also declined 0.032 to 0.559.
Meanwhile, yields on German 10-Year bunds, were also down significantly, falling 0.03 to 0.18.