Investing.com – The dollar rose against a basket of major currencies on mostly upbeat economic data while comments from Fed chair designate Jerome Powell lifted sentiment on the greenback.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, traded rose 0.31% to 92.86.
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence gauge rose to 129.5 in November from 126.2. in October, beating economists’ forecast for a reading of 124.
The upbeat consumer confidence came just hours after a pair of mixed on goods trade data and wholesale inventories.
The Commerce Department said on Tuesday the goods trade gap widened 6.5% to $68.3 billion in October amid an increase in imports of industrial supplies, consumer and other goods.
Wholesale inventories fell 0.4% in October after rising 0.1% in September, the Commerce Department reported on Tuesday.
Traders shifted focus to Fed chair designate Jerome Powell’s confirmation hearing, in which he said that the Fed expects interest rates to rise “somewhat further” and the size of its balance sheet to gradually shrink.
Powell’s comments did little to change the widely held view that the incoming Fed chair will adopt a similar stance to outgoing Fed Chair Janet Yellen on monetary policy.
Also supporting an uptick in the dollar was euro weakness amid a slew of economic data that undershot expectations.
EUR/USD fell 0.26% to $1.1867, while EUR/GBP fell 0.67% to £0.8872.
GBP/USD surged 0.32% to $1.3361 on reports that Britain has agreed a deal with EU negotiators over the so-called Brexit bill for leaving the EU.
USD/JPY rose 0.14% to Y111.40, while USD/CAD rose 0.31% to C$1.2810.