RTTN: Dollar Uncertain Ahead Of Housing, Jobless Claims Data
(RTTNews) - The dollar was on the defensive Thursday morning in New York ahead of the latest reading on the beleaguered US housing sector and the weekly jobless claimsreport.
The National Association of Realtors will table its report on existing home sales for August. Economists expect that existing home sales increased to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.04 million units, after plummeting 27.2% in July.
The government's jobless claims report for the week ended September 18 at 8.30 a.m. ET. Economists project that jobless claims remain unchanged at 450,000, having shown some improvement over the past few weeks.
The buck has been battered this week on speculation the Federal Reserve is about to launch a second round of quantitative easing measure.
In addition to pledging to keep rates near zero for an extended period on Tuesday, the Fed said it stands ready to support the sluggish economy in other ways, and is concerned about disinflation.
The buck was steady against the euro ahead of today's data releases, holding around 1.3330. Yesterday, the buck hit 1.3439 -- its lowest since early May.
Eurozone private sector activity growth slowed more than expected in September, suggesting a slowdown in economic growth in the third quarter.
The Markit Flash eurozone composite output index fell to a seven-month low of 53.8 from 56.2 in August, data from Markit Economics showed Thursday. It was the largest fall since November 2008.
The buck was stuck in place versus the yen this morning, unable to fight back from yesterday's losses. The dollar held near Y84.35, staying close to a recent 15-year low of Y82.86.
Japanese officials intervened in the currency markets to devalue the surging yen last week, but the action had little lasting impact. Analysts speculate that a second intervention is on the way.
The dollar remained near Monday's 2-year low of 0.9837 versus the swiss franc, and was steady at 1.5670 versus the sterling.
