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The U.S. dollar advanced against major currencies Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's remarks showed optimism on U.S. economic growth.
The greenback rebounded from a six-month low against other currencies as the Fed Chair said before the joint economic committee of U.S. Congress that data showed "solid growth" for the economy in the second quarter, which fueled speculations that U.S. economy will grow faster this year.
Yellen showed a generally dovish tone by saying "we expect considerable time before normalizing rate policy." However, analysts believe the U.S. dollar has weakened pretty far recently. She also said that most Fed officials expect to normalize the rate policy in 2015 or 2016.
The U.S. central bank announced a further cut in monthly bond purchases at its April policy meeting, by another 10 billion U.S. dollars to 45 billion dollars starting in May, while reaffirming that a highly accommodative stance of monetary policy remains appropriate.
Meanwhile, the euro retreated before the European Central Bank' s monetary meeting Thursday and investors expect it would not add more monetary stimulus.
On the economic front, U.S. nonfarm business sector labor productivity decreased at an annual rate of 1.7 percent during the first quarter, the Labor Department reported. The decline was larger than market expectations.
U.S. mortgage applications climbed 5.3 percent for the week ending May 2 from the week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
In late New York trading, the euro dropped to 1.3916 U.S. dollars from 1.3933 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound decreased to 1.6960 U.S. dollars from 1.6984 dollars. The Australian dollar slipped to 0.9340 U.S. dollar from 0.9356 dollar.
The U.S. dollar bought 101.78 Japanese yen, higher than 101.58 yen of the previous session. The greenback moved up to 0.8795 Swiss franc from 0.8737 Swiss franc, and it moved up to 1.0895 Canadian dollars from 1.0884 Canadian dollars.
