Dow Jones Newswires
FOREX: The euro's drive higher comes on improving economic data in its zone as well as on the malaise surrounding the dollar. The euro made a convincing break above key levels Wednesday, climbing to 15-month highs.
The single currency's decisive advance could cause euro-skeptics to "throw in the towel," auguring a move first above 95 cents by the summer and then to parity with the dollar before the end of the year, said Michael Woolfolk, currency strategist at Bank of New York.
"What's happened here is you've seen the equivalent of a rubber band, where the momentum worked for a while but suddenly everybody looked around and said 'the dollar is overvalued' and the band started snapping," said Hayden Traub, head of global asset allocation at State Street Global Investors in Boston.
"The market just remains enormously negative on the dollar, although you have to say this is becoming more of a euro strength move" too, with the euro also making gains against sterling, the Swiss franc and the yen, said Robert Sinche, chief currency strategist with Citibank in New York.