U.S. dollar hits 11-month high against other majors on solid housing data

The U.S. dollar struck nine-month highs against the Euro and 11-month highs against a basket of major currencies on Tuesday after solid U.S. housing data boosted thoughts for an earlier-than-expected interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

U.S. housing starts surged 15.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual 1.09-million unit pace in July, snapping two straight months of declines, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday. Economists polled by Bloomberg had expected starts to rise to a 965,000-unit rate last month.

The euro, which hit its lowest since November against the dollar of $1.33121 in the wake of the U.S. housing starts data, was last down 0.32 percent against the dollar at $1.33193.

Fears of a Japan-like stagnation have weighed on the Euro with traders shifting their focus to ECB head Mario Draghi’s speech Friday at the Jackson Hole Symposium.

The U.S. dollar extended gains to be up 0.37 percent against a basket of major currencies after the data. The Dollar Index was last at 81.87, the highest since September 2013.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield was last at 2.40 percent, up slightly from 2.39 percent late Monday.

Analysts said that despite Tuesday`s strong housing data that supported a hawkish bent, Wednesday`s release of minutes from the Fed`s July policy meeting would likely show a continued dovish tone from the U.S. central bank, while at the same time investors are waiting Janet Yellen to speak at Jackson Hole for more insight.

The British pound was down 0.65% at 1.66169, the lowest since April 8.

Tuesday’s cooler than expected CPI data in the U.K. has pushed back Bank of England (BOE) rate hike expectations, many not expecting action until sometime in 2015.

The dollar was last at a two-week high against the Japanese yen of 102.91 yen, up 0.35% for the day.