Dollar continues to slide

Despite the U.S. holiday, the dollar dominated trading on Monday as it headed for a fourth day of declines, weakening against almost every major currency. The euro’s jump weighed on European stocks, while gold gained.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell, even after advances in Asian stock markets, as the common currency provided a headwind to the region’s exporter-heavy gauge. The yuan touched a twoyear high as the People’s Bank of China raised the currency’s fixing to the strongest since May 2016. West Texas oil fluctuated. U.S. markets are shut for Martin Luther King Jr. day.

The dollar remains under pressure after capping five straight weeks of declines, even against a backdrop of solid U.S. growth. Traders appear to be more excited by potentially hawkish policy shifts from central banks in Europe and Japan, the improving political outlook in the euro area and the synchronized nature of global expansion that’s also propelling emerging-market economies.

The single currency, which already has momentum after last week’s progress toward a German government, got a further boost as economists polled in a monthly Bloomberg survey bumped up their 2018 outlook for euro-area growth to 2.2 percent. That’s close to the decade-high 2.4 percent pace estimated for last year.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index decreased 0.1 percent as of 12:22 p.m. London time. The MSCI World Index of developed countries rose 0.3 percent, reaching the highest on record with its 11th consecutive advance. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.5 percent to the highest on record with the largest rise in more than a week. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average jumped 0.3 percent. The MSCI Emerging Market Index increased 0.2 percent to the highest in almost 10 years. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index declined 0.1 percent, the first retreat in a week. Futures on the S&P 500 Index rose 0.1 percent to the highest on record.