Dollar strengthens for fourth day on rate speculation

London (July 7))  The dollar continued to rise for a fourth straight day on Monday as traders considered whether the solid U.S. jobs report for June will add more pressure on the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates sooner than expected.

The ICE dollar index  DXY -0.01%    rose 0.1% to 80.26, marking its highest level in almost two weeks, according to FactSet data. The dollar was almost unchanged against the euro  EURUSD -0.02%   , with the shared currency trading at $1.3596. The greenback, however, slipped against the yen and traded down 0.1% at ¥101.94.

The move came as Goldman Sachs on Sunday brought forward its forecast for the first rate hike to the third quarter of 2015 from the first quarter of 2016, based on the strong improvement in the labor market and overall financial conditions over the past few months. The nonfarm-payrolls report for June, published on Thursday, showed 288,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy last month, far beating analyst expectations.

Investors will get more details on the Fed members’ rate views when the minutes from the June FOMC meeting are published on Wednesday.