NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The U.S. dollar hit an 11-year high against the euro Wednesday after pushing through a key technical threshold, shrugging off a weaker-than-expected ADP jobs report and strong eurozone reports.

The euro EURUSD, -0.06% tumbled to $1.1073, its lowest level since late 2003.

The market has dumping euros for the past week despite a string of upbeat eurozone data that could inspire the European Central Bank to revise its growth expectations upward at its policy meeting on Thursday, several analysts have said.

Wednesday’s moves were driven by a combination of eurozone bond investors, who are already facing record-low yields in Europe, searching for yield elsewhere, and the expectation that the Fed will be the first among its peers to raise interest rates.

“We bounced off $1.1150 a few times in the last few days and I think the market may have thought if we moved through it, that would be a major break,” said Steve Englander, global head of G10 FX strategy at Citigroup Inc.

The European Central Bank is expected to make its first €60 billion purchase of private and public eurozone debt after Thursday’s meeting.

“This is sort of a continuation in the selling we’ve seen all week,” Englander said. “Hawkish Fed expectations combined with the sense that once the ECB starts buying, there’s just not going to be enough bonds out there.”

Eurozone retail sales data released Wednesday morning came in significantly stronger than expected, growing 1.1% month over month, compared with a consensus estimate of 0.4% growth from analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal. In other eurozone data, the composite purchasing managers index for February came in at 53.3, up 0.7 point from January’s reading, but slightly below the consensus estimate.

Meanwhile, the dollar inched lower against the yen after ADP reported that private-sector employment grew by 212,000 jobs in February, down from a revised reading of 250,000 jobs in January.

The dollar USDJPY, -0.01% inched higher against the yen after a measure of February service-sector activity in the U.S. came in higher than analysts had expected. The dollar traded at ¥119.70, compared with ¥119.67 late Tuesday.

The dollar held its gains in afternoon trading as the release of the Fed’s beige book showed that a strengthening dollar and the recent oil-price collapse has weighed on export demand in several sectors — most notably manufacturing, agriculture and energy exploration.

Service-sector activity in the U.K. missed the consensus estimate, sending the pound lower against the dollar for the fourth straight session. The pound GBPUSD, +0.02% traded at $1.5258, compared with $1.5362 Tuesday.

The ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, +0.03% , a measure of the dollar’s strength against six of its largest trading partners’ currencies, was 0.62% higher at 95.9750.

Swiss franc cap rumors?

The Swiss franc weakened against the dollar for the fifth straight session Wednesday, as a rumor circulated that the Swiss National Bank was considering a re-introduction of a cap on the value of the franc. The selling continued after Swiss authorities denied the rumor.

The franc CHFUSD, -0.12% traded at $1.0379, compared with $1.0405 on Tuesday. Matthew Weller, senior technical analyst at Forex.com, said that the dollar is likely to continue strengthening against the franc in the long-term, cautioning investors to ignore short-term dips.

“Even now that the rumor has since been denied, the franc remains weaker on the day, suggesting that traders were just looking for any excuse to buy [dollars in exchange for francs],” Weller wrote.