The U.S. dollar fell against nearly all of its major counterparts, touching a two-week low versus the Euro as global equities rose and over speculation European officials meeting today in Brussels with make progress on a plan to fix the Greek debt crisis. There is no major economic data slated for release today in the United States, but the greenback has fallen the most against the higher-yielding Australian and New Zealand dollars ahead of economic calendar that is expected to paint a strong outlook for the U.S. economy. Tomorrow, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond will say the overall business activity index for the central-Atlantic region climbed to 7 from 3 last month. Wednesday, pending home sales will fall 1.0% and the Federal Reserve will announce its interest rate decision. Thursday sees the release of weekly jobless claims, durable goods orders and leading indicators. On Friday, U.S. gross domestic product is expected to have expanded at a 3.0% annual rate in the fourth quarter.
The Euro advanced against the dollar to the highest levels in more than two weeks, as finalizing terms of the Greece bailout will be a key moving forward this week. The EU finance ministers will meet today, with a larger EU summit on the horizon next week, in what they hope will solidify the degree of private sector involvement in the bailout of Greece. On today’s economic docket, the Euro-Zone January consumer confidence is expected to stay relatively steady, at –21.1.
The sterling stayed relatively unchanged over the weekend, after a week that showed the pound gain just under 2% on the dollar. The U.K. continues to show an elevated risk of surpassing the Bank of England’s target inflation of 2%, as the forecast of no growth over the fourth and first quarters continues to be reported.
