By Deborah Levine
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The dollar ticked up slightly and Treasury prices held onto gains Thursday after a report showed U.S. first-time jobless claims fell more than predicted to 414,000 in the latest week. A separate report showed housing starts were stronger than expected in May, and April's figure was revised higher. Investors' quest for safe haven, as confidence in Greece's and Europe's political will to address the country's debt burden deteriorated, supported U.S. debt and the greenback before the data. The dollar index DXY +0.43% , which measures the performance of the U.S. unit against a basket of six currencies, rose to 75.965, from 75.930 before the data and up from 75.630 Wednesday. The euro fell to $1.4083 from $1.4162 in late North American trading Wednesday. Yields on 10-year notes 10_YEAR -1.72% , which move inversely to prices, fell 5 basis points to 2.92%. They touched 2.88% before the data, the lowest since early December.
