The U.S. dollar surged against the European and British currencies, but was held at bay by the commodity bloc, as the main action was on foreign exchange markets.
The dollar may be in the early stages of an upward trend if higher inflation should prompt the Fed to retire its bond-buying program and raise interest rates ahead of current market expectations, according to Joe Manimbo, senior market analyst at Western Union Business Solutions.
Near New York City, the euro fell sharply to 1.1363. The British pound fell to 1.3413 on the back of the 1.3413. The Japanese yen was weakened to 114.14. The Swiss franc was lower at 0.9255.
The Canadian dollar went up to 1.2519. After hitting a day's high of 7370, the Australian dollar relaxed to end around 0.7344. On the equity markets, the Dow Jones fell 12.86 points or 0.04 percent to 36,087. The Nasdaq Composite was down 7.11 points or 0.04 percent to 15,853. The Standard and Poor's 500 finished virtually unchanged, down just 0.05 of a single point to 4,682. The FTSE 100 in London increased 0.05 percent over the course of the day. The Greman Dax added 0.25 percent. The Paris-based CAC 40 climbed by 0.53 percent.
The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose by 166.83 points or 0.56 percent to 29,776 on Asian markets. The Australian All Ordinaries rose by 32.40 points or 0.42 percent to 7,798. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong traded sideways for most of the day but stretched out a minor 62.94 points or 0.25 percent gain to close Monday at 25,390 in the final minutes. China's Shanghai Composite was down 5.80 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 3,535.