By | January 29 2010 2:14 PM

The dollar surged to a 6-month high against the euro at 1.3864 on a combination of robust US GDP data and lingering fears over Greece's fiscal problems. The US economy expanded at its fastest pace since 2003, blowing away consensus estimates for Q4 growth of 4.7%, instead expanding at 5.7% on an annualized basis - up sharply from 2.2% in Q3. A breakdown of the growth rate revealed a surge in inventories, which contributed to the bulk of the gains, propping GDP up by 3.4%. Data released today also saw a higher than forecast improvement in the January Chicago PMI to 61.5 from 57.4. The PMI employment component edged up to 59.8 compared with 47.6 in December while the production component increased to 66.6 versus 64.2. Meanwhile, the final reading for the University of Michigan consumer sentiment rose to 74.4 from 72.5 previously.