Investing.com - The dollar pushed higher against a currency basket on Monday, as a recent solid run of U.S. economic data underpinned expectations for further gradual rate hikes by the Federal Reserve through the end of this year and beyond.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.22% to 95.52 by 03:27 AM ET (07:27 AM GMT) after hitting a six-week high of 95.78 last week.
The Labor Department reported Friday that while the rate of jobs growth slowed sharply in September, likely due to the effects of Hurricane Florence, the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in almost 50 years.
Expectations for tighter monetary policy spurred a sell-off in Treasuries last week, propelling the yield on 10-year Treasury notes to a seven-year peak on Friday. The higher U.S. Treasury yields helped the dollar gain against most of its major peers last week.
Moves remained subdued on Monday amid thin liquidity with financial markets in Japan and U.S. bond markets closed for holidays.
The dollar was steady against the yen, with USD/JPY at 113.78 after hitting a high of 114.52 last week, the most since November 2017.
The euro fell back towards last week’s one-and-a-half month lows, with EUR/USD down 0.23% to 1.1498.
The single currency remained on the back foot amid worries that the Italian government’s spending plans could trigger another round of the country’s debt crisis.
Sentiment on the euro was also hit by data showing that German industrial output unexpectedly declined in August, for a third consecutive month.
The pound was broadly weaker, with GBP/USD sliding 0.34% to 1.3072 and EUR/GBP gaining 0.19% to trade at 0.8796 amid ongoing uncertainty over what sort of deal Britain will secure before its exit from the European Union.