The US dollar rallied against its major counterparts today as a positive industrial output report fueled speculations about an early interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve. The greenback was unable to outperform the yen.
US industrial production grew 1.3 percent in November, exceeding analysts’ expectations. Moreover, the October’s reading was revised from a 0.1 percent drop to an increase by the same rate. The data reinforced the view that the Fed’s policy statement released this week should be hawkish.
The dollar was strong as a result of the positive fundamentals, especially against commodity currencies that were suffering from decline of oil prices. The US currency failed to beat the yen, which rallied following the parliamentary elections over the weekend.
EUR/USD dropped from 1.2471 to 1.2436 as of 21:07 GMT today, touching the low of 1.2414 intraday. GBP/USD declined from 1.5722 to 1.5636. USD/JPY fell from 118.67 to 117.69.
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