Euro rises on strong Spanish, French bond auctions

[January 20, 2012]  NEW YORK (AP) -- The euro is rising against the dollar after following successful auctions of debt by Spain and France.

That's a sign that investor confidence in the two countries is improving, even though both had their credit ratings downgraded by Standard & Poor's last week.

Traders also bought euros on positive U.S. jobs data. The number of people applying for unemployment benefits last week fell to the lowest level since April 2008.

Investors tend to buy riskier investments, such as the euro, when they believe the global economy is improving.

The euro rose to $1.2936 in midday trading Thursday, from $1.2841 late Wednesday.

The British pound rose to $1.5478 from $1.5427. The dollar fell to 0.9342 Swiss franc from 0.9406.

However, the dollar rose to 77.25 Japanese yen from 76.80.

[Associated Press]

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