Dollar Drifts Lower Against Major Counterparts

(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar drifted lower against its major counterparts on Thursday after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the policymakers had not made a decision on the scale and path of rate hikes in the future.

The outcome of the March 21-22 meeting would be dependent on the data, Powell told the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday.

"We haven't made a decision yet," Powell said, indicating that Friday's jobs data and next week's inflation data will play a key role in influencing the size of the rate hike.

Data from the Labor Department showed initial jobless claims climbed to 211,000 in the week ended March 4th, an increase of 21,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 190,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 195,000.

With the bigger than expected increase, jobless claims reached their highest level since hitting 223,000 in the week ended December 24th.

The data helped ease concerns about labor market tightness, which the Federal Reserve has pointed to as a reason for stubbornly elevated inflation.

Traders now look ahead to the release of the Labor Department's more closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

Economists currently expect employment to jump by 203,000 jobs in February after surging by 517,000 jobs in January, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold at 3.4%.

Traders now await Friday's non-farm payrolls data, and the inflation report, due next week, for further clues on interest rates.

The dollar index dropped to 105.15 this afternoon, before recovering a bit to 105.27, but still trailed its previous close by nearly 0.4%.

Against the Euro, the dollar has weakened to 1.0580, from 1.0544.

The dollar is trading at 1.1919 against Pound Sterling, weakening from 1.1844.

Against the Japanese currency, the dollar has eased to 136.13 yen from 137.35 yen.

The dollar is little changed against the Aussie at 0.6589. Against Swiss franc, the dollar is down nearly 1% at CHF 0.9326.

At C$1.2826, the dollar is firm against the loonie, gaining from C$1.3806.