Dollar loses then gains on confidence, scare

The US dollar weakened Friday on decreased demand in favor of higher yielding currencies after a Reuters/University of Michigan survey showed US consumer sentiment at 70.2 in September, from 65.7 last month.

The rise in sentiment sent investors looking for riskier investments at the expense of the lower-yielding dollar, but the greenback gained back declines versus the euro after a scare involving a Coast Guard training exercise on the Potomac River near the route US President Barack Obama used to travel to a Pentagon remembrance of the September 11 attacks eight years ago.

At 2:36 p.m. in New York, the dollar traded at $1.4594 to the euro while the yen was at ¥90.515 to the US dollar and at ¥132.1001 to the shared currency.

Meanwhile, the pound gained on the euro and the dollar after the Office for National Statistics reported a gain of 0.2 percent in UK producer prices in August from July’s level.

The pound traded at 87.46 to the euro while it took $1.6686 to buy a pound in afternoon trade in New York.

Story link: Dollar loses then gains on confidence, scare