The dollar weakened Monday against the euro and a host of other rivals after Federal Reserve data showed a decline in New York-area manufacturing activity.
The euro EURUSD, -0.0442% rose to $1.1319 late Monday in New York, compared with $1.1308 late Friday, after the Empire State general business conditions index plummeted to a reading of negative 9 for early May, down from 9.6 in April.
The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. currency against a basket of six rivals, was nearly flat at 94.547 .DXY, within sight of a three-week high of 94.845 hit on Friday.
The dollar edged up to 109.07 yen JPY=, while euro bought 123.40 yen EURJPY=, up slightly.
The euro was slightly lower at $1.1316 EUR=.
New York's Empire State survey was weaker than expected, coming in at its lowest level since February. But few investors used it as an excuse to sell the greenback.
Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker told the Washington Post in an interview published on Monday that the central bank should consider raising rates at its June meeting. But Lacker is not a voting member of the Fed's policy-making board this year, and markets have all but priced out a move next month.
Fed funds futures rates show investors see only a 4 percent chance the Fed will raise interest rates at its upcoming June policy meeting and market pricing indicates an increase will not occur until early 2017, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool. But many investors believe the next hike will come later this year.
West Texas Intermediate crude gained as much as 0.4 percent in early Tuesday trading after surging 3.3 percent on Monday. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said the market moved into a deficit earlier than expected following supply disruptions in Nigeria and an increase in demand.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 traded flat at $48.96 per barrel in early Asia, after having risen 2.4 percent on Monday, when it rallied to $49.47 earlier, its highest since early November, in a test toward $50.
U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures CLc1 changed hands at $47.77, maintaining their 3.3 percent gains on Monday.
Over the weekend analysts at Goldman Sachs bumped up their forecast for the price of West Texas Intermediate in the second half of 2016 from $45 a barrel to $50.
Oil traded near a six-month high after advancing 3.3 percent on Monday.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofAML) expect WTI to hit US$54 a barrel by the end of the fourth quarter of this year and to average US$59 a barrel during 2017.
Barclays said the second quarter may well be better than the first in terms of industry prospects.
Reference: Sharecast, Proactiveinvestors, Reuters, Market Watch, Bloomberg
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