NEW YORK- The US dollar gained against the euro for the first week since mid-June after data showed a strong uptick in US, business activity, while the single currency was held down as an August batch of European business surveys pointed to a stuttering economic recovery.
US business activity snapped back to the highest since early 2019 this month as companies in both the manufacturing and services sectors saw a resurgence in new orders even as new COVID-19 cases remain stubbornly high across the country.
“The Markit PMI flash readings show the US is outperforming Europe,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA in New York.
The data contrasted with weakness in the euro zone, as the pent-up demand unleashed last month by the easing of coronavirus lockdowns dwindled.
“Clearly the PMI numbers this morning suggest that Europe is losing a little momentum here and that we’re seeing some turbulence in other areas of the global economy. So that is weighing on the performance gap between the US and its major counterparts,” said Karl Schamotta, chief market strategist at Cambridge Global Payments.
The euro dipped to a one-week low of $1.175 against the greenback earlier, before rising back to $1.179, down 0.61 percent on the day.
The greenback escaped a ninth consecutive weekly decline that would marked the longest losing streak since the summer of 2010 and a run that has only happened five times since 1990.
