Investing.com - The dollar climbed to fresh 14-year highs against the other major currencies on Friday, as optimism over the strength of the U.S. economy and growing expectations for a December rate hike by the Federal Reserve continued to boost the greenback.
EUR/USD slid 0.29% to an 11-month low of 1.0593.
The greenback strengthened broadly after the U.S. Department of Labor said on Thursday that initial jobless claims fell by 19,000 last week to 235,000, the lowest level since 1973.
Separately, the Commerce Department said housing starts surged 25% in October to hit 1.323 million units, while building permits rose 0.3% to 1.229 million units.
Data also showed that U.S. consumer prices rose 0.4% in October, in line with expectations. Year-over-year, consumer prices increased by 1.6% last month, its highest reading since October 2014.
The upbeat data added to optimism over the strength of the U.S. economy and fueled further expectations for a rate hike at the Fed’s policy meeting next month.
Earlier Thursday, Fed Chair Janet Yellen warned Congress of the danger of waiting too long to tighten monetary policy and that a rate hike was likely "relatively soon."
The comments came a day after Philadelphia Fed head Patrick Harker said that he was in favor of raising interest rates, while Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said the Fed must not overreact to market moves following the shock result of the presidential election.
GBP/USD fell 0.29% to 1.2386, the lowest since November 10.
Elsewhere, USD/JPY climbed 0.55% to trade at a five-month high of 110.73.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.34% at a fresh 14-year peak of 101.34.