Dollar Rises Against Major Counterparts

(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar climbed higher against its major counterparts on Wednesday, as the minutes from the Federal Reserve showed the central bank officials feel restrictive monetary policy need to continue to bring inflation to the 2% target.

Market participants expect the Fed to hold rates at the December meeting and deliver a first rate cut in May.

In U.S. economic news today, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell to 209,000 in the week ended November 18th, a decrease of 24,000 from the previous week's revised level of 233,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 225,000 from the 231,000 originally reported for the previous week.

A separate report released by the Commerce Department showed new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods pulled back by much more than expected in the month of October, plunging by 5.4%, after surging by 4.6% in September. Economists had expected durable goods orders to tumble by 3.1%.

The sharp pullback in durable goods orders came as orders for transportation equipment plummeted by 14.8% in October after spiking by 11.6% in September.

The University of Michigan also released revised data showing consumer sentiment in the U.S. deteriorated by less than previously estimated in the month of November

The University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index for November was upwardly revised to 61.3 from a preliminary reading of 60.4. The upwardly revised reading is well above economist estimates for 60.5 but is still down from 63.8 in October.

The dollar index surged to 104.21 around mid morning, and despite easing to 103.88 later, remained well above the flat line, gaining about 0.3%.

Against the Euro, the dollar firmed to 1.0888 from 1.0925. The dollar is up against Pound Sterling at 1.2495, gaining from 1.2538 a unit of Sterling.

Against the Japanese currency, the dollar has strengthened to 149.58 yen, about 0.8% more than the previous close of 148.40 yen. The dollar is up against the Aussie at 0.6543, and is flat against Swiss franc at CHF 0.8838.

The dollar firmed against the Loonie, fetching C$ 1.3767 a unit as oil prices fell, but pared gains subsequently, and was at C$ 1.3688 a little while ago.