News: FOREX-U.S. dollar reaches six-week high on weaker euro, Swiss franc and yen

• Graphic: World FX rates https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E

The U.S. dollar reached a six-week high on Monday on weakness in the euro, Swiss franc and Japanese yen amid views that the United States has an advantage in growing its economy and vaccinating its population against COVID-19.

The dollar index =USD was up 0.37% to 90.955 in late afternoon trading in New York, just off of levels last seen on Dec. 21.

The Japanese yen JPY=D3 weakened, hovering around 105 to the U.S. dollar, a level not seen since mid-November.

The euro EUR=EBS was off 0.57% to $1.2069. Against the Swiss franc CHF=EBS the dollar was up 0.66% to 0.8967 to the dollar, its weakest level in two months.

The moves came on evidence pointing toward a stronger recovery from the coronavirus pandemic for the United States than for other countries.

The euro weakened after Germany reported that retail sales plunged by an unexpected 9.6% in December after tighter lockdowns last year to curb the spread of COVID-19 choked consumer spending in Europe's largest economy.

The dollar may be more resilient in the near-term because "both growth and vaccination favour the U.S.," said Kamal Sharma, director of G10 FX strategy at BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research.

The dollar's gains on Monday came as crude oil and silver, both dollar-denominated commodities, rose 2% and 7%, respectively.

Oil was buoyed by falling U.S. crude inventories and rising fuel demand as one of the worst snowstorms in years hit the U.S. Northeast.

Silver prices popped on speculation that retail traders were encouraging one another to buy the metal after their orders last week drove up shares of video game retailer GameStock Corp. GME.N

U.S.-based strategists at Wells Fargo Securities wrote, "We think USD strength still has room to run." That's especially true against more volatile securities, they added.

Mexico's peso MXN= also benefited from the rise in oil and silver, gaining more than 1%. Besides being an oil producer, Mexico was the world's largest silver producer in 2019, according to data from Statista.

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	Currency bid prices at 3:08PM (2008 GMT) 

 Description	  RIC		 Last		   U.S. Close  Pct Change	 YTD Pct	 High Bid	Low Bid 
											  Previous				   Change				  
											  Session											
 Dollar index	  =USD	   90.9550		90.6280	 +0.37%		 +1.15%	  +91.0150	+90.5010 
 Euro/Dollar	   EUR=EBS	$1.2069		$1.2139	 -0.57%		 -1.22%	  +$1.2145	+$1.2061 
 Dollar/Yen		JPY=D3	 104.9250	   104.7250	+0.26%		 +1.66%	  +105.0300   +104.6550 
 Euro/Yen		  EURJPY=	126.62		 127.07	  -0.35%		 -0.24%	  +127.1200   +126.6100 
 Dollar/Swiss	  CHF=EBS	0.8967		 0.8909	  +0.66%		 +1.36%	  +0.8969	 +0.8908 
 Sterling/Dollar   GBP=D3	 $1.3669		$1.3693	 -0.17%		 +0.06%	  +$1.3757	+$1.3656 
 Dollar/Canadian   CAD=D3	 1.2839		 1.2775	  +0.51%		 +0.83%	  +1.2843	 +1.2763 
 Aussie/Dollar	 AUD=D3	 $0.7638		$0.7642	 -0.07%		 -0.73%	  +$0.7662	+$0.7606 
 Euro/Swiss		EURCHF=	1.0822		 1.0808	  +0.13%		 +0.14%	  +1.0827	 +1.0803 
 Euro/Sterling	 EURGBP=	0.8827		 0.8852	  -0.28%		 -1.22%	  +0.8856	 +0.8805 
 NZ				NZD=D3	 $0.7167		$0.7184	 -0.24%		 -0.20%	  +$0.7202	+$0.7151 
 Dollar/Dollar																				   

 Dollar/Norway	 NOK=D3	 8.5810		 8.5650	  +0.20%		 -0.06%	  +8.6195	 +8.5590 
 Euro/Norway	   EURNOK=	10.3578		10.4099	 -0.50%		 -1.04%	  +10.4330	+10.3520 
 Dollar/Sweden	 SEK=	   8.4185		 8.3589	  +0.15%		 +2.71%	  +8.4283	 +8.3263 
 Euro/Sweden	   EURSEK=	10.1605		10.1455	 +0.15%		 +0.83%	  +10.1885	+10.1360 
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World FX rates	https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E 

Dollar hits 2-week high https://tmsnrt.rs/39BR4Ms

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