After the dollar spent about 5 weeks moving sideways, it looks like it regained some of its strength. The US currency had its best week in a long time, since September 2011 to be exact, now that data implies that the US economy is recovering from a disappointing first quarter.

Consumer prices went up stronger than expected and real estate also had a bit of a revival. All reasons that make the Fed’s case to raise interest rates for the first time since 2006 stronger; growth seems robust enough.

The fundamentals are improving and investors should expect the Fed to raise interest rates in the short term, says Kate Warne, investment strategist at Edward D. Jones & Co., which should support the dollar.

Dollar versus 10 leading currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which tracks the dollar against 10 global leading currencies, went up by 2.6 percent to 1,179.86 last week. Versus the euro, the currency even went up by 3.8 percent and 1.9 percent versus the yen.

The momentum in the US remains largely intact and we have seen that the dollar experienced a significant rally compared to the week before, says Aroop Chatterjee, currency strategist at Barclays. The environment still supports the dollar as well.

This week we look forward to more data from the US economy. According to Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities, there are signs of hope and he expects more to come. If people get convinced that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates soon, you can imagine that that is a strong argument to buy dollars.