The dollar was little changed on Tuesday, bolstered by data showing that U.S. consumer confidence rose in December to its highest in eight months.
The news is the latest in a series of headlines indicating that the world’s biggest economy performed better than expected in the fourth quarter after spending most of the year in a malaise.
The Conference Board’s consumer-confidence index jumped to 64.5 in December from a revised 55.2 in November. Economists had been expecting the index to show a much more modest increase to a reading of 59.0.
The news overshadowed a disappointed reading on the housing sector.
Home prices in major U.S. metropolitan areas fell by more than anticipated in the month of October, according to a report released by Standard & Poor’s on Tuesday.
The report showed that the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price Index fell by an annual rate of 3.4 percent in October compared to a revised 3.5 percent drop in September.
Still, the dollar was steady near $1.3050 versus the euro, unchanged from Friday. On December 14, the dollar touched an 11-month high of $1.2944.
Financial institutions’ overnight deposits with the European Central Bank rose to a record high yesterday, the central bank revealed Tuesday. Banks parked EUR 411.813 billion at the ECB on December 26, which is bigger than the EUR 346.994 billion deposited on Thursday before the Christmas holiday.
The buck was stuck near Y77.80 versus the yen, after the monetary policy board of the Bank of Japan said that the Japanese economy is continuing to show signs of steady improvement, minutes from the board’s meeting on November 15 and 16 revealed on Tuesday.
There was little movement near C$1.02 versus the dollar’s Canadian counterpart, and the buck was stuck near $1.5665 versus the sterling.
