The 13-nation euro fell against the U.S. dollar Wednesday as speculation began to grow that the European Central Bank may hold off on further interest rate increases, according to AP. In afternoon European trading the euro bought US$1.4759, down from US$1.4841 the night before in New York. The British pound rose slightly to US$2.0704 from US$2.0687 the night before, while the dollar rose to purchase 109.89 Japanese yen from 108.59 yen the day before. The euro hit an all-time high of $1.4966 on Friday, the latest in a string of recent records triggered by worries about credit and instability in the United States. The dollar has also been hurt by interest rate cuts in the U.S., and speculation about more to come, while the ECB has raised rates. Although lower interest rates can jump-start an economy, they can also weaken a currency as investors transfer funds to countries where they can earn higher returns. On Wednesday, the GfK research group reported that consumer confidence in Germany fell for the fourth consecutive month despite the end-of-the-year holiday season, driven by fears surrounding the strong euro and high prices. That, and other economic developments, has led to speculation that the ECB will leave rates unchanged at its next meeting _ supporting the dollar, said James Hughes, an analyst with CMC Markets. «The dollar continues to post incremental gains ... largely as speculation builds that the ECB may now elect to leave interest rates unchanged once again at next week's meeting,» he said. «Yesterday morning we had word from the German finance minister expressing concerns about an economic slowdown and the release of worse than expected German consumer sentiment data in the last couple of hours is adding weight to this consensus.» The dollar had rallied, with the euro dropping close to US$1.47 on Wednesday morning, but lost back much of its ground after Washington reported disappointing news about existing home sales and durable goods. The U.S. National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing single-family homes and condominiums fell for the eighth consecutive month in October, with median home prices falling by a record amount. In another sign of spreading economic weakness, the U.S. Commerce Department reported that orders to factories for big-ticket manufactured goods declined by 0.4 percent in October. It was the third straight drop, the longest stretch of weakness in nearly four years.
