The dollar extended its losing streak versus the euro on Monday, as discouraging news from the housing front cemented expectations the Federal Reserve will maintain its easy monetary policies.
Meanwhile, the president of the European Central Bank once again signaled an interest rate increase is coming from the ECB in April.
Jean-Claude Trichet told the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of the European Parliament that he had “nothing to add” to last week’s ECB’s policy statement, when the central bank warned that “strong vigilance” was needed on inflation.
The dollar dropped to $1.4216 versus the euro, its lowest since November. A move to $1.4285 would take the dollar to its lowest since January 2010.
The buck hit its lowest since March 3 versus the sterling, dropping to $1.6312.
There was little movement for the dollar against the yen, as traders bet that further yen strength would compel authorities to intervene in the currency markets again.
The buck was steady near Y81 versus the yen, having touched a record low of Y76.30 before last week’s historic G7 intervention.
After increasing in the three previous months, existing home sales in the U.S. showed a notable decrease in the month of February, according to a report released by the National Association of Realtors on Monday, with sales falling by more than anticipated.
NAR said existing home sales fell 9.6 percent to an annual rate of 4.88 million in February from an upwardly revised 5.40 million in January. Economists had expected sales to drop to 5.15 million from the 5.36 million originally reported for the previous month.