American focus: the US dollar rose moderately

The US dollar showed gains against major currencies, as strong US data, released on Friday, boosted hopes for a Fed rate increase in December, supporting demand for the dollar.

The dollar strengthened position after Friday the Labor Department reported last month that the US had created 211,000 jobs, after a gain of 298,000 in October.

The unemployment rate in November remained at the previous level of 5%. Economists had forecast job growth of 200,000 and only zero growth in unemployment.

Reports reinforced expectations that the upcoming meeting of December 15-16, the Fed will raise interest rates for the first time since 2006. During the growth rates of the US dollar will become more attractive for investors looking for profit.

The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Dennis Lockhart said on Monday that supports raising short-term interest rates to levels close to zero. This statement Lockhart made in anticipation of the next meeting of the Federal Reserve System, which will be held next week.

"I'm ready to take the decision to raise interest rates" to levels close to zero, at which they were in December 2008. Criteria for the tightening of monetary policy, the Fed indicated, "largely achieved," said Lockhart.

This interview with the Atlanta Fed President made on the eve of the next meeting of the Operations Committee on the open market, scheduled for December 15-16, during which he will participate in the vote. Many expect that the Fed will decide to raise rates from the levels where they were after the deepest financial crisis and significant deterioration of the economic situation since the Great Depression.

Some representatives of the central bank is uniquely made for the tightening of monetary policy, while others only indicated their readiness to act at the meeting. Most market participants expect a rate hike.

Sentiment on the euro remained lower after Friday European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said that, if necessary, to achieve the inflation target of the ECB is going to increase the volume of stimulation.

The comments came a day after the euro has shown the biggest one-day gain against the dollar in more than six years, jumped 3% after the recent measures announced by the ECB did not meet market expectations.

The focus of today were also the data for Germany and the euro zone. Ministry of Economy of Germany said that the volume of industrial production rose in October by 0.2%, against a decline of 1.1% in September. However, the value of the index was less than expected, as growth in manufacturing and construction partly offset by lower production in the energy sector. Most analysts forecast growth of industrial production by 0.7%. Compared with September, the volume of production in the manufacturing industry and in construction increased by 0.7%, and in the energy sector, they declined by 5.9%. "Strong winds and a large number of sunny days during the summer provide a noticeable increase in energy production from renewable sources", - the report said the ministry.

In addition, the results of the survey research group Sentix showed that the index of sentiment among investors in the euro zone improved in December, but was worse than forecasts of experts. According to the index of investor confidence rose in December to a level of 15.7 points compared to 15.1 points in November. The latter value was the highest in the last four months. Economists had expected the index to improve to 17.2 points. It also became known that the index of current conditions fell to 13.5 in December from 16.0 in the previous month. Meanwhile, the expectations index rose to 18.0 points from 14.3 points in November.