Forex Pros – The U.S. dollar was up against all of its major counterparts on Thursday, after the Bank of England left its official cash rate unchanged in line with expectations and Moody’s cut Spain’s debt rating by one notch. During European early afternoon trade, the greenback was up against the euro, with EUR/USD shedding 0.57% to hit 1.3827. Earlier in the day, Moody's downgraded Spain’s sovereign debt to Aa2 from Aa1 with a negative outlook and warned of further cuts, saying plans to bail out the country’s banking sector will cost more than the government had expected. The greenback was also up against the pound, with GBP/USD losing 0.42% to hit 1.6135 after the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee left interest rates on hold at a record low of 0.5%, as expected. Elsewhere, the greenback was up against the yen and the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY rising 0.30% to hit 82.98 and USD/CHF climbing 0.45% to hit 0.9338. Earlier Thursday, official data showed that Japan’s economy contracted more than the government initially estimated in the fourth quarter because of a downward revision to capital investment and consumer spending. Meanwhile, the greenback was up against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD gaining 0.25% to hit 0.9708, AUD/USD tumbling 0.74% to hit 1.0030 and NZD/USD slipping 0.11% to hit 0.7357. Earlier, official data showed that Australia's economy lost jobs in February for the first time in 18 months, while New Zealand’s central bank cut interest rates to offset the impact from the 6.3 magnitude earthquake that hit Christchurch last month. The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.48%. Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish a key weekly report on initial jobless claims as well as data on the country’s trade balance.

Source