The euro gained against the dollar on Wednesday as investors ditched the greenback, which traded up and down on lackluster U.S. consumer confidence data as well as on comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who left markets with an impression that while easing remains a possibility, it's not in the works.
In Asian trading on Wednesday, EUR/USD hit 1.3327, up 0.10%, up from a session low of 1.3314 and off from a high of 1.3329.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3192, Monday's low and resistance at 1.3386, Tuesday's high.
The pair shot up and down through U.S. and European sessions, and jumpy trading carried into Asian trading.
Earlier in the U.S., the Conference Board reported that its closely watched consumer confidence index slipped to 70.2 in March from a revised 71.6 in February, slightly worse than an expected reading of 70.2 but nothing to terribly surprising.
Expectations for higher fuel and other prices dampened spirits, and while the labor market is improving, a weak housing sector also cut into the reading.
Meanwhile, the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller U.S. house price index fell at an annualized rate of 3.8% in January from a year earlier, meeting expectations although the reading shows that home prices continue falling.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who a day earlier rattled nerves when he said "significant improvements in the unemployment rate will likely require a more-rapid expansion of production and demand from consumers and businesses, a process that can be supported by continued accommodative policies," returned to the public eye.
Markets had interpreted Bernanke's earlier comments to mean the U.S. central bank was considering stimulus measures such as quantitative easing, which are asset purchases from banks, in order to prime the economy and bolster the labor market by flooding the country with liquidity.
The dollar weakens under such policy.
Bernanke a day later said that the Fed is merely ready to do whatever is necessary, which calmed nerves a little, although he did tell ABC News that higher gas prices may cause inflation to be "a little bit higher" in the coming months and take a bite out of consumer spending, leading to "a hit on growth," comments that sent investors selling dollar positions.
Concerns that a present lull in the debt crisis will end in Europe and spread to Spain or Portugal from Greece kept the euro tempered.
The euro, meanwhile, was up against the pound and up against the yen, with EUR/GBP trading up 0.05% at 0.8352 and EUR/JPY up 0.09% at 110.84.
Later Wednesday, markets will move on data for durable goods orders in the U.S.
In Europe, German inflation data is tentatively due out as are French gross domestic product growth figures.
Monetary policy numbers out due out from the eurozone as well, with the ECB scheduled to unveil data on money supply and private loan growth.
In Asian trading on Wednesday, EUR/USD hit 1.3327, up 0.10%, up from a session low of 1.3314 and off from a high of 1.3329.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3192, Monday's low and resistance at 1.3386, Tuesday's high.
The pair shot up and down through U.S. and European sessions, and jumpy trading carried into Asian trading.
Earlier in the U.S., the Conference Board reported that its closely watched consumer confidence index slipped to 70.2 in March from a revised 71.6 in February, slightly worse than an expected reading of 70.2 but nothing to terribly surprising.
Expectations for higher fuel and other prices dampened spirits, and while the labor market is improving, a weak housing sector also cut into the reading.
Meanwhile, the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller U.S. house price index fell at an annualized rate of 3.8% in January from a year earlier, meeting expectations although the reading shows that home prices continue falling.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who a day earlier rattled nerves when he said "significant improvements in the unemployment rate will likely require a more-rapid expansion of production and demand from consumers and businesses, a process that can be supported by continued accommodative policies," returned to the public eye.
Markets had interpreted Bernanke's earlier comments to mean the U.S. central bank was considering stimulus measures such as quantitative easing, which are asset purchases from banks, in order to prime the economy and bolster the labor market by flooding the country with liquidity.
The dollar weakens under such policy.
Bernanke a day later said that the Fed is merely ready to do whatever is necessary, which calmed nerves a little, although he did tell ABC News that higher gas prices may cause inflation to be "a little bit higher" in the coming months and take a bite out of consumer spending, leading to "a hit on growth," comments that sent investors selling dollar positions.
Concerns that a present lull in the debt crisis will end in Europe and spread to Spain or Portugal from Greece kept the euro tempered.
The euro, meanwhile, was up against the pound and up against the yen, with EUR/GBP trading up 0.05% at 0.8352 and EUR/JPY up 0.09% at 110.84.
Later Wednesday, markets will move on data for durable goods orders in the U.S.
In Europe, German inflation data is tentatively due out as are French gross domestic product growth figures.
Monetary policy numbers out due out from the eurozone as well, with the ECB scheduled to unveil data on money supply and private loan growth.
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