Euro climbs past 1.2 versus dollar to one-week high

Euro jumped nearly one percent for the third straight session away from December 28 lows against the dollar, following earlier data from the euro zone and the US, and ahead of Fed Governor William Dudley's speech later today. 

As of 04:10 GMT, EUR/USD rose 0.83% to 1.2047 from the opening of 1.1948, with an intraday low at 1.1929, and a January 5 high at 1.2059. 

Earlier euro zone data showed industrial production accelerated to 1.0% from 0.4% in October, beating expectations of 0.8%, while on a yearly basis, output growth slowed down to 3.2% from 3.9%, beating expectations of 3.1%. 

The European Central Bank released the minutes of its December 14 meeting, at which policymakers voted to hold the bidding rate unchanged at zero and the deposit rate at minus 0.4%, while trimming the assets purchase program to 30 billion euros from 60 billion starting this year. 

On another note, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said earlier today that there are big issues holding off talks to form a governing coalition, adding that they use all efforts to ensure success of the talks to stabilize German politics. 

Otherwise, earlier US data showed producer prices dipped 0.1% m/m in December, the first such decline since July, missing expectations of a 0.2% rise, while analysts expected a 0.4% increase. 

Core prices, excluding food and fuel, fell 0.1% as well, missing expectations of a 0.2% increase, and compared to November's 0.3% rise. 

US unemployment claims rose to 260 thousand in the week ending January 6 from 250K, the second weekly increase in a row, while analysts expected a drop to 246K. 

Continuing claims fell 35 thousand to 1.867 million from 1.902 million in the week ending December 23, while analysts expected 1.920M. 

The overall disappointing data cut chances of a Federal Reserve rate hike in March, and the bets of three hikes this year similar to 2017.