2019.05.2817:11:00UTC+00Dollar Stays Firm Against Major Currencies

The U.S. dollar traded firm against most major currencies on Tuesday, with an improvement in U.S. consumer confidence and continued worries about U.S.-China trade tensions aiding the currency.

According to a Conference Board report, U.S. consumer confidence saw a substantial improvement in the month of May.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index surged up to 134.1 in May after jumping to 129.2 in April. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 129.8.

The dollar index rose to 97.97, gaining more than 0.35%.

The euro was down nearly 0.3% at $1.1166, after having advanced to $1.1203 earlier in the session.

Results of the European Union Parliamentery elections and data showing an improvement in eurozone economic confidence for the first time in almost a year helped euro to come off lower levels.

A survey data from European Commission showed Eurozone economic confidence improved for the first time in almost a year in May, with the economic sentiment index rising unexpectedly to 105.1 from a revised 103.9 in the previous month.

The score was forecast to drop to 103.8. The increase in sentiment ended a sequence of decline that began in July 2018.

Against British pound sterling, the dollar was gaining 0.22% at $1,2652 a sterling, while against the Japanese currency, the greenback was down 0.14% at 109.35 yen.

U.S. President Donald Trump, on his four-day state visit to Japan, described the U.S. trade imbalance with Japan as "unbelievably large" but said he would announce something on trade probably in August. Japan will be heading to the polls for the upper house in July.

Trump expressed optimism the U.S. and China will eventually reach a trade agreement.

"I think, sometime in the future, China and the United States will absolutely have a great trade deal. And we look forward to that," Trump said.

However, Trump also warned that U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods could "go up very, very substantially, very easily."

Trump also said the U.S. is "not ready to make a deal" and suggested China probably wishes "they made the deal that they had on the table before they tried to renegotiate it."

The dollar was up nearly 0.4% against the loonie at 1.3497 and 0.38% at 1.0076 against Swiss franc, while gaining marginally at 0.6922 against the Aussie.