Euro Jumps to Five-Week High Against Dollar

Positive economic news from the U.S. and indications of low interest rates for the next few years pushed the euro to a five-week high against the dollar and the yen on Thursday, January 26, Reuters reports.

According to the news source, while new claims for unemployment benefits increased in the U.S. last week, the positive trend appears to be continuing. Additionally, new orders for goods manufactured in the U.S. were higher than expected in December, the news source said.

The positive U.S. news came one day after Fed policymakers pushed back an eventual interest rate hike by 18 months to late 2014.

"In the afterglow of the Fed's decision yesterday to keep interest rates low for a longer period of time, today's generally positive U.S. data gave investors a fresh reason to move into riskier assets," Joe Manimbo, market analyst at Travelex Global Payments, told Reuters.

Bloomberg reports the yen climbed 0.9 percent against the dollar from January 25, when it reached its weakest level since November 29.