The dollar rose against the euro for a fourth day as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke endorsed consideration of a fiscal stimulus package.
The greenback rose against the South African rand and the Swiss franc on speculation U.S. government and central-bank efforts will help the world's largest economy recover from a recession before the rest of the world. The South Korean won strengthened versus the greenback as the government guaranteed $100 billion of lenders' foreign-currency debt.
``The U.S. is more actively taking measures to deal with the recession than others,'' said Jessica Hoversen, a currency analyst at MF Global Ltd. in Chicago. ``I am bullish on the dollar versus the euro.''
Bernanke's remarks in prepared testimony to the House Budget Committee today may give momentum to legislation being proposed by House Democrats. In January before the same panel, he said a stimulus ``could be helpful'' and urged lawmakers to act ``quickly.'' The impact of that $168 billion measure faded by July, and economists anticipate gross domestic product will contract in the current quarter.
The Conference Board's index of U.S. leading economic indicators increased 0.3 percent in September after a 0.9 percent decline in the prior month that was almost twice as large as previously estimated, the New York-based private research group said today. The index points to the direction of the economy over the next three to six months.