North-West Financial Broker
Personal Area
Personal Area
18 Feb - Fundamental
The dollar was mixed against major currencies Thursday after the government said jobless claims rose last week and as investors awaited other economic reports.
What prices are doing: The dollar fell 0.2% versus the euro to $1.3630 and was up 0.2% against the U.K. pound at $1.5645. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar slipped 0.4% to ¥90.9.
On Wednesday, the dollar rebounded against rivals on stronger-than-expected housing data and upbeat meeting minutes from the Federal Reserve.
What's driving prices: The Labor Department said Thursday that initial jobless claims surged to 473,000 last week. While this was up from 442,000 the previous week, it was worse than expected.
Analysts had forecast claims to hit 430,000, according to a consensus estimate from Briefing.com.
«This was a step in the wrong direction and the dollar strengthened against major currencies as a result,» said Brian Dolan, a chief currency strategist at Forex.com. «But the markets are going to shrug that number off because at end of the day, we already know the U.S. job market is terrible.»
The producer price index rose a seasonally adjusted 1.4% in January compared to a gain of 0.4% in December. This beat the 0.8% increase expected by analysts.
Investors are awaiting the latest index of leading economic indicators, due at 10 a.m. ET. The Philly Fed, a regional manufacturing survey, also comes out then.
What analysts are saying: «Overall we're looking at more of a downturn in risk appetite and I anticipate to see a higher dollar in the weeks ahead,» said Dolan. «Credit issues abroad are not going away, it's just a question of when we get the next ripple or reverberation coming out of the eurozone.»
