U.S. Dollar Jumps on News of Trade Talk Extension

Investing.com - The greenback jumped on Tuesday as the U.S. and China plan to extend trade talks into Wednesday.

Officials from the two countries are meeting in Beijing and talks will extend to a third day, increasing hope that the two largest economies in the world could resolve their differences before a March 1 deadline.

Steven Winberg, Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy, confirmed the extension to reporters at the U.S. delegation's hotel.

"I confirm we're continuing tomorrow, yes," Winberg told reporters, declining to answer further questions.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.3% to 95.55 as of 10:29 AM ET (15:29 GMT). The dollar was higher against the yen, with USD/JPY rising 0.05% to 108.73.

Investors are also looking ahead to a speech from Trump at 9:00 PM ET (2:00 GMT Wednesday), where he is expected to address the government shutdown and building a wall on the border with Mexico. Trump has said he will not sign a budget unless it includes funding for a wall, which has lead to an impasse with Congress.

Meanwhile, the euro fell amid an unexpected fall in German industrial output sparked concern of a slowdown in the region and could hinder the European Central Bank’s plans to wean off stimulus programs. EUR/USD was down 0.34% to 1.1433. Sterling was down 0.4% amid continued Brexit pressure, as the vote for a withdrawal agreement goes before Parliament next week, with GBP/USD at 1.2720.

AUD/USD fell 0.3% to 0.7127 while NZD/USD slipped 0.5% to 0.6713 and USD/CAD was flat at 1.3295.

-- Reuters contributed to this report.

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