By Cornelius Luca, BridgeNews
New York--Feb. 13 The greenback was straddled overnight as traders waited for Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's congressional testimony at 1000 ET. The dollar rose versus the euro, Swiss franc and Canadian dollar, but fell against the Japanese yen and sterling. Analysts expect Greenspan to underscore the Fed's ongoing worries about the struggling U.S. economy and clearly leave the door open for additional interest rate cuts to prevent a recession.
* * * Traders will also face the U.S. retail sales data, which seen up 0.5%, in January, with sales excluding autos up 0.4%. In December, retail sales rose 0.1% overall and were unchanged excluding autos. Both dollar/yen and euro/dollar remain under pressure ahead of the Greenspan's testimony.