NEW YORK, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar hit a six-month high against the euro Tuesday as economic reports showed U.S. economic outlook were better than expected.

    The Conference Board, an economic research group, said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose to 56.9 in August in the largest monthly gain in two years.

    Meanwhile, sales of new U.S. homes rose unexpectedly in July, said the Commerce Department, as home prices slide.

    The euro fell as low as 1.4569 dollars, before recovering to 1.4650 dollars in late New York trading.

    The British pound, meanwhile, fell to its lowest point since July 2006 at 1.8329 dollars before recovering to 1.8389 dollars.

    The dollar also rose to 109.63 Japanese yen from 109.35 yen and inched up to 1.1000 Swiss francs from 1.0963, but slipped to 1.0487 Canadian dollars from 1.0504.