Investing.com - The dollar rose to fresh two-week highs against the other major currencies on Monday, helped by the release of upbeat U.S. data and as fresh hopes for an upcoming rate hike by the Federal Reserve continued to support the greenback.
EUR/USD fell 0.22% to 1.1170, the lowest since August 15.
The U.S. Commerce Department reported earlier Monday that personal spending increased 0.3% last month, in line with expectations.
The core PCE price index was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis, where it has held since March.
At the Jackson Hole symposium on Friday, Fed Chair Janet Yellen said the case for U.S. interest rate hikes has “strengthened” in recent months due to improvements in the labor market and to expectations for solid economic growth.
However, she did not indicate when the Fed would act, saying that higher interest rates will depend on incoming economic data.
Speaking shortly afterwards, Fed Vice Chair Stanley Fischer said Yellen’s speech was “consistent” with expectations for possibly two more rate hikes this year, opening the door to a September hike.
GBP/USD declined 0.48% to 1.3078, the lowest since August 22.
USD/JPY gained 0.37% to 102.17, while USD/CHF eased 0.09% to 0.9793.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were little changed, with AUD/USD at 0.7567 and with NZD/USD at 0.7245.
Elsewhere, USD/CAD rose 0.28% to a two-and-a-half week high of 1.3037.
Declining oil prices weighed on the commodity-related loonie on Monday, as hopes of a production freeze began to fade.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.22% at 95.69, the highest since August 15.