WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The dollar struggled in early trade Tuesday, but jumped following the release of the stronger than expected consumer confidence report. The U.S. currency is now rising against all of its major rivals this afternoon.
Consumer confidence in the U.S. unexpectedly improved in the month of March, according to a report released by the Conference Board on Tuesday. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index jumped to 125.6 in March from a revised 116.1 in February.
The increase surprised economists, who had expected the index to dip to 113.8 from the 114.8 originally reported for the previous month. With the unexpected increase, the consumer confidence index climb to its highest level since reaching 128.6 in December of 2000.
Economic data is expected to be on the light side Wednesday, with only pending home sales scheduled to be released. Weekly jobless claims and GDP are slated for Thursday, while consumer sentiment, personal income and the Chicago PMI are scheduled for Friday.
The dollar dipped to an early low of $1.0872 against the Euro Tuesday, but has since climbed to around $1.0815.
Germany's public debt declined in the fourth quarter, data from Destatis showed Tuesday.
The debt owed by the overall public budget to the non-public sector totaled EUR 2,006.5 billion at the end of the fourth quarter. Based on provisional results, debt declined by 0.8 percent, or EUR 16.1 billion from the end of 2015.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to trigger Article 50 on Wednesday, which would begin the Brexit process. The government will deliver a letter to the European council president Donald Tusk, the mechanism for starting the Brexit process.
The buck fell to a low of $1.2596 against the pound sterling Tuesday morning, but has since broken out to a 4-session high of $1.2455.
The greenback slipped to an early low of Y110.169 against the Japanese Yen Tuesday, but has since bounced back to around Y111.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX