Dollar strengthens

NEW YORK: The U.S. dollar rose to near a six-month high against the safe-haven Japanese yen and emerging market currencies like the Mexican peso, Brazilian real and Russian rouble also rose as global economic momentum appeared so far unscathed by trade tensions, prompting investors to buy riskier assets.

Investors appear to be shrugging off the deepening trade conflict between the United States and China. Data from Europe overnight showed French and Italian industrial output had weakened, which may have initially "revived this idea that trade wars, even before they’ve started, have already begun to hit investment and activity in trading partners," said Daniel Katzive, head of FX strategy for North America, BNP Paribas.

But greater comfort with risk prevailed over the course of the trading day. "The basic thesis that nothing permanently damaging has happened thus far has remained intact," said Katzive.

Investors may instead be focused on the positive outlook for second-quarter corporate earnings, which kick off this week. Credit Suisse projects that second-quarter revenue will grow by and earnings per share by 20.1 percent.