By Deborah Levine
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The dollar declined versus the euro and Treasury prices headed slightly lower after the U.S. Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell 21,000 to 454,000 in the latest week. The euro rose to $1.2662 from $1.2641 in late North American trading Wednesday. The dollar index (DXY 83.84, +0.02, +0.02%) a measure tracking the performance of the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, slipped to 83.872, up from 83.900. Yields on 10-year notes (UST10Y 3.00, +0.02, +0.54%) , which move inversely to prices, rose 3 basis points to 3.02%. At the same time, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet began his monthly news conference. Later in the session, the Treasury Department will announce how much in debt it will sell next week and then auction 10-year inflation indexed securities.
