2022.05.2420:26:00UTC+00U.S. Dollar Drops To Lowest Levels In A Month

The value of the U.S. dollar has moved to the downside over the course of trading on Tuesday, extending a recent downward trend.

Currently, the U.S. dollar index is down 0.31 points or 0.3 percent at 101.77 after hitting its lowest level in almost a month.

The greenback is trading at 126.88 yen compared to the 127.90 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Monday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.0734 compared to yesterday's $1.0691.

The weakness in the value of the dollar has partly been attributed to comments from European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, who said that the central bank is planning to exit negative interest rates by the end of the third quarter.

In a blog post, Lagarde said that the central bank is expected to end net purchases under the APP very early in the third quarter.

A lift-off in the interest rate is likely at the meeting in July, in line with the forward guidance, Lagarde said.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department released a report showing a much steeper than expected drop in new home sales in the month of April.

The report showed new home sales plunged by 16.6 percent to an annual rate of 591,000 in April after tumbling by 10.5 percent to a revised rate of 709,000 in March.

Economists had expected new home sales to slump 1.7 percent to a rate of 750,000 from the 763,000 originally reported for the previous month.

With the much bigger than expected decrease, new home sales dropped to their lowest annual rate since hitting 582,000 in April of 2020.