2017.08.2903:24:00UTC+00Europe Rises Beyond $1.20 Mark

On Tuesday, the euro surged beyond the $1.20 threshold for the first time since January 25, as investors' optimistic sentiment regarding the currency bloc's economic performance and concerns that a hurricane that affected the U.S. might impact America's economic growth provided support for the currency.

The euro rose to as high as $1.2016 in early European trading, a level it has not seen in over two and a half years.

The common currency has exchanged hands at $1.1977 on Monday in New York, after hitting a peak level of $1.1986, continuously moving the psychological $1.20 mark. The currency ended at $1.1923 late Friday in New York, after advancing 1.3 percent last week.

Meanwhile, investor's bets on the dollar weakened as economists attempted to measure the impact of Hurricane Harvey that caused significant damage and destruction over the weekend in Texas. ING analyst Chris Turner said that the visible effects indicated slowed Q3 U.S. growth and may even prompt the Fed to pause its rate hikes.