(AP) — BERLIN - The euro gained some ground against the U.S. dollar Friday after slipping amid upbeat reports on the American economy the day before.
The 16-nation euro bought $1.3920 in morning European trading, up from $1.3903 late Thursday in New York. The British pound also climbed, buying $1.6379 from $1.6350 the night before. The dollar advanced to 96.81 Japanese yen from 96.60 yen in New York.
The dollar gained traction Thursday after the Conference Board, a U.S. private sector group, said its index of leading economic indicators rose for the second straight month in May after seven straight declines. The index rose 1.2 percent, the biggest gain since March 2004.
Conference Board economist Ken Goldstein said if those trends continue, a "slow recovery" should start before the end of the year, but he cautioned that the job market will take longer to make a lasting rebound.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Labor Department reported that the total number of people on the unemployment insurance rolls dropped for the first time since early January, while new claims for benefits rose slightly.
