NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar edged up on Thursday, reversing its recent decline, after U.S. President Donald Trump backed a strong dollar, and the S&P 500 gave back gains on the comments before eking out a record-high close.
The U.S. dollar <.dxy> was up 0.17 percent against a basket of major currencies after Trump told CNBC in an interview in Davos, Switzerland, he wants to see a strong dollar.The comments came a day after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, also in Davos, made a major departure from traditional U.S. currency policy, saying "obviously, a weaker dollar is good for us as it relates to trade and opportunities."Mnuchin's comments drove further losses in the dollar on Wednesday, which gave the currency its biggest daily percentage drop in seven months."They want to walk back yesterday's comments. They were salt in the wound," said Kathy Lien, managing director at BK Asset Management in New York.But other factors have been driving the extended decline in the dollar, she said. "I think we are due for a rebound. What we are seeing now is some profit-taking."The Dow and S&P 500 closed at their highest levels ever although they relinquished bigger gains after Trump's comments.The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.dji> rose 140.67 points, or 0.54 percent, to end at 26,392.79, the S&P 500 <.spx> gained 1.71 points, or 0.06 percent, to 2,839.25 and the Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> dropped 3.90 points, or 0.05 percent, to 7,411.16.The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index <.fteu3> lost 0.60 percent and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe <.miwd00000pus> gained 0.13 percent.The euro was