The dollar slid to a 15-month low against the euro Wednesday as investors fled the safe haven currency on upbeat economic reports.

On Wall Street, shares were slightly higher after the Federal Reserve indicated that interest rates would remain at super-low levels for a while yet and that it was not overly concerned by dollar&S217;s decline.

The euro climbed to $1.5077 in New York trading from $1.4975 late Tuesday, having earlier risen to $1.5096, its highest level since August 2008. The dollar fell to 87.56 Japanese yen from 88.56 yen, after earlier falling to 87.36 yen, its weakest level since January and close to 14-year lows.

The renewed slump in the dollar was driven largely by the publication Tuesday of the minutes to the Fed&S217;s last rate-setting meeting in November.

The Fed said at the time that it planned to keep interest rates at &S220;exceptionally low levels&S221; for an &S220;extended period&S221; &<51;currently the Fed funds rate stands at a range between zero and 0.25 percent -- and that the fall in the dollar had been &S220;orderly.&S221;

Currency traders seized on the reference to the dollar as the Fed is usually wary of talking about changes in currency values.

Stuart Bennett, senior foreign exchange strategist at Calyon Credit Agricole, said there was now a chance that the euro&S217;s breakthrough opened the way for a &S220;rapid&S221; move higher, especially if stocks remain well-bid &<51; for much of the past year, the dollar has moved in opposite direction to stocks.

As the dollar weakened, gold prices hit another record. Crude oil increased $1 to $77.02 a barrel.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 15 points, or 0.15 percent. The broader Standard &&8; Poor&S217;s 500-stock index rose 3.13 points, and the Nasdaq rose 5.78 points. Trading volume was thin ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, which can exacerbate swings in the market low fee payday loans.

At an economic report, the government said new claims for unemployment insurance fell by 35,000 last week to 466,000. That was the fewest claims since September last year, and better than the 500,000 that economists had expected.

The drop in claims suggested that the job market was healing, but concern remains that the improvement will be temporary as the weak economy continues to push unemployment higher. The jobless rate hit 10.2 percent in October and many analysts believe it will keep rising before starting to improve next summer.

In other economic reports, new home sales rose 6.2 percent to an annual rate of 430,000. That was above what economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected.

Separately, the government reported consumer spending rose a brisk 0.7 percent last month, following a 0.6 percent drop in September. It was the best showing since August, when the government&S217;s now-defunct Cash for Clunkers programs enticed people to buy cars.

Not all the day&S217;s news was upbeat. Orders for expensive manufactured goods dropped 0.6 percent last month, the first drop since August. Economists had expected orders would grow.

Doug Roberts, chief investment strategist at Channel Capital Research in Shrewsbury, N.J., said investors were still worried about the sustainability of a recovery but are afraid of missing more of the market&S217;s eight-month rally.

&S220;People may not believe in this market but they&S217;re reluctantly being pulled into it with each of these reports,&S221; Mr. Roberts said.

Overseas, Japan&S217;s Nikkei stock average rose 0.4 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain&S217;s FTSE 100 rose 0.8 percent, Germany&S217;s DAX index rose 0.6 percent, and France&S217;s CAC-40 rose 0.7 percent.

Dollar Continues Its Slide; Markets Rise

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures were little changed on Tuesday, ahead of data on third-quarter GDP and consumer confidence and following a strong advance in Monday&&9;s session.

The preliminary estimate on gross domestic product growth, November consumer sentiment data as well as the September Case/Shiller housing price index could provide insight into how firmly a recovery has taken hold.

"The data is going to be the market driver today, and after the rally we had yesterday, investors are waiting to see what the data comes in at before they jump in one way or the other," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners in New York.

"The market&&9;s momentum is still to the upside, so if the data is better than expected, we could see another strong rally."

Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) reported a quarterly profit that matched its preliminary results late Monday, and said that while the economy remained challenging, it saw signs of a recovery.

H.J. Heinz Co (HNZ.N) posted a drop in second-quarter earnings on Tuesday, but lifted its full-year profit view.

Analog Devices Inc (ADI.N) and Brocade Communications Systems Inc (BRCD.O) both reported quarterly results that beat expectations late Monday quick cash. Analog Devices also forecast higher profit margins.

Investors have been closely watching the technology sector, which is generally considered one of the first to recover from recession.

S&P 500 futures rose 2.3 points and were modestly above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures were up 2 points, while Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.25 points.

In overseas markets, Hong Kong and China stocks fell, with the Shanghai composite index (.SSEC) off 3.5 percent, dragged down by banks. European stocks were little changed, though financials were pressured.

Kenneth Feinberg, the Obama administration&&9;s pay czar, is being pressed by federal officials to relax executive compensation restrictions at American International Group Inc (AIG.N) for 2010, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources.

U.S. stocks snapped a three-day losing streak on Monday, as stronger-than-expected home sales data fueled optimism while a weaker dollar boosted commodity-linked stocks.

Futures flat ahead of data, after HP results