SF: Dollar Rises to One-Month High Versus Yen as Treasuries Advance
Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar climbed to a one-month high against the yen as the number of U.S. building permits jumped to the highest level in four years, reducing speculation the Federal Reserve will extend stimulus next month. U.S. stocks swung between gains and losses, while oil and wheat climbed.
The dollar rose 0.2 percent to 79.16 yen at 10:11 a.m. in New York. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose less than 0.1 percent, after falling as much as 0.1 percent earlier. The euro gained 0.4 percent to $1.2333. Wheat jumped 1.6 percent to lead commodities higher. Oil increased 0.2 percent in New York. Treasuries rose, sending 10-year yields down three basis points to 1.78 percent.
Building permits, a proxy for future construction, rose to an 812,000 pace last month, the most since August 2008, the Commerce Department said. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher repeated his view yesterday that the economy probably won’t lapse into a recession in 2013 and that new stimulus won’t spur growth.
“The fact permitting is improving in the housing market suggests the future is going to be there,” Jason Benowitz, who helps oversee $5 billion at Roosevelt Investment Group Inc. in New York as a portfolio manager, said in a phone interview. “That of course is positive for the market. On the other hand, you have to counterweight the less-likely chance of further monetary easing. Overall, I think it’s mixed to slightly positive.”
--With assistance from Lukanyo Mnyanda in Edinburgh, Claudia Carpenter, Paul Dobson and Will Hadfield in London and Jason Clenfield in Tokyo. Editors: Michael P. Regan, Lynn Thomasson
To contact the reporters on this story: Stephen Kirkland in London at skirkland@bloomberg.net; Lu Wang in New York at lwang8@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net
