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Dollar Rises Against Major Counterparts Ahead Of Jackson Hole Symposium
(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar firmed against its major counterparts on Thursday, supported by data showing a drop in jobless claims, and hawkish comments from former St Louis Fed President James Bullard.
Speculation about the outlook for interest rates ahead of the economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, aided the currency's uptick.
The symposium will feature meetings by global central bank leaders as well as a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday that could impact the outlook for interest rates.
The report from the Labor Department said initial jobless claims slipped to 230,000 in the week ended August 19th, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week's revised level of 240,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 240,000 from the 239,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Data from the Commerce Department showed durable goods orders plunged by 5.2% in July after surging by a revised 4.4% in June. Economists had expected durable goods orders to slump by 4% compared to the 4.6% jump that had been reported for the previous month.
The dollar index climbed to 104.03, gaining nearly 0.6%.
Against the Euro, the dollar strengthened to 1.0810 from 1.0864. The dollar is up against Pound Sterling at 1.2596, gaining from 1.2724 a unit of the U.K. currency.
Against the Japanese currency, the dollar has firmed nearly 0.7% to fetch 145.84 yen a unit. Against the Aussie, the dollar is up sharply at 0.6414.
The Swiss franc is weak at CHF 0.8846 a dollar, and the Loonie is losing ground as well at C$1.3590 a dollar.
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