NEW YORK: The US dollar edged up against the euro Tuesday helped by modestly positive US economic data.
New data releases showed continued gains in home prices in March, an increase in durable goods orders in April, and a rise in consumer confidence over the past month.
The euro has slipped steadily for three weeks amid rising expectations that the European Central Bank will take steps to further loosen monetary conditions when policy makers meet on June 5.
Nobel laureate and economist Paul Krugman urged the ECB Tuesday to raise its inflation target in order to help keep long-term interest rates down to boost the eurozone economy.
With inflation considerably below the ECB's target of about 2.0 percent, many now worry the eurozone recovery is running out of steam and faces deflationary risks.
"I am well aware that any proposal for a rise in the inflation target is greeted with extreme skepticism by central bankers," Krugman said at an ECB forum on monetary policy in Sintra, near the Portugese capital Lisbon.
"If the two percent target was defendable in the 1990s, it's likely not to be adequate in the future," he said.
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