Forexpros - The U.S. dollar pushed higher against most of the other major currencies on Wednesday, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke delivered a downbeat assessment of the U.S. economy, but failed to explicitly indicate if additional stimulus measures are imminent.
During European morning trade, the dollar was higher against the euro, with EUR/USD down 0.34% to 1.2252.
In testimony on the economy and monetary policy to the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, Bernanke said growth had lost momentum in the first half of the year and added that progress on cutting the U.S. unemployment rate was “frustratingly” slow.
However, he refrained from indicating whether the Fed would embark on a third round of quantitative easing to stimulate the economy, but reiterated that the central bank was prepared to take further action to support the economic recovery if necessary.
The greenback was also higher against the pound, with GBP/USD down 0.35% to hit 1.5596.
Earlier Wednesday, the minutes of the Bank of England’s July meeting showed that seven of the nine member monetary policy committee, including Governor Mervyn King, voted to implement a further GBP50 billion of stimulus measures.
But the pound found some support after official data showed that the unemployment rate in the U.K. unexpectedly ticked down to 8.1% in June from 8.2% in May as the London Olympics helped to create extra jobs.
The report also showed that the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the U.K. rose by 6,100, last month, above expectations for an increase of 5,000.
Elsewhere, the greenback was little changed against the yen, with USD/JPY dipping 0.04% to 79.03, but pushed higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF up 0.29% to 0.9799.
In Switzerland, a report showed that the ZEW index of economic sentiment improved modestly in July, coming in at minus 42.5, up from a reading of minus 43.4 in June, which was the lowest since January.
The greenback was broadly higher against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD adding 0.14% to trade at 1.0133, AUD/USD slipping 0.16% to 1.0298 and NZD/USD shedding 0.51% to hit 0.7940.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.22% to 83.31.
Later Wednesday, Ben Bernanke was to testify in front of the House Financial Services Committee. In addition, the U.S. was to publish official data on building permits and housing starts.
