The US dollar looks set to make a second straight monthly advance against the yen and euro as gains in stocks showed traders are cautiously optimistic the economy may not slide into recession after all.

“The idea that the Fed will continue to cut rates has been completely put to bed and the market is now flirting with the idea of a rate hike. That has given the dollar a boost,” said Alan Ruskin, head of international currency strategy at RBS Greenwich Capital Markets in Connecticut, in Bloomberg. More from that story:

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 0.9% in the first quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) announced yesterday (Wednesday).

This is the third installment of a new Money Morning series highlighting investment opportunities created by the global bull market in commodities. There’s a classic squeeze going on in the timber markets right now.

When U.S. Department of Energy analysts told you more than a month ago that gasoline prices would peak at about $4 a gallon around Memorial Day, we told you they were wrong. Gas prices, we said, were destined to head much, much higher.

In Chicago, gas prices have now topped $4 a gallon. Americans all across the country are struggling to fill up the tank. Companies are even pitching in gas money to help their employees out.

Falling confidence, weak dollar, wasting employment, backtracking GDP… many things point to a recession, but it’s certainly an odd one.

The yuan-dollar peg has gone a long way in ensuring constancy. Chinese economic growth – we would argue, all economic growth – ensues under the auspice of a stable currency. But ties to the greenback have recently come with a price.

In the currency market, the dollar continued to slide against the euro. Late Monday, the euro was trading at $1.5541 vs. $1.5473 on Friday.

In the energy market Thursday, crude for June delivery pulled well back from a new intraday record of $124.57, although not far enough that it didn’t set a new closing record at $123.69/barrel, up 16 cents.

Gold had a very choppy day that saw it peak short of $880 in the far East, then decline steadily during London and the first hour of the New York session on Wednesday, but then bounce off an $865 low three times by noon, after which the trend was gently upward, to a finish at $867.80, down $7.90.