Investing.com - The euro was lower against the dollar on Thursday after a report showed that U.S. initial jobless claims fell sharply last week, dropping to the lowest level since 2006.
EUR/USD hit 1.3258 during U.S. morning trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3280, shedding 0.20%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3243, Wednesdays low and resistance at 1.3323, the session high and an almost two-week high.
The euro hit session lows after data showed that U.S. initial jobless claims fell sharply last week, dropping to the lowest level since 2006.
The Department of Labor said the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. fell by 31,000 to a seasonally adjusted 292,000 from 323,000 in the previous week.
However, the report said the decline was largely due to two states not processing all claims received because of computer upgrades.
The euro came under pressure earlier Thursday after data showed that industrial production in the euro area fell by 1.5% in July, the biggest drop in 12 months. Analysts had forecast a 0.1% decline.
On a year-over-year basis industrial production fell 2.1% to the lowest level since April 2010, compared to expectations for a 0.1% decline.
Elsewhere, the euro was lower against the pound and the yen, with EUR/GBP slipping 0.11% to 0.8404 and EUR/JPY falling 0.74% to 131.97.
Also Thursday, the European Parliament approved legislation to allow the European Central Bank to oversee banks in the 17 nation currency bloc. ECB President Mario Draghi said the vote was “a real step forward” in establishing a banking union.
