(RTTNews) - The dollar was generally stronger on Thursday, extending yesterday's gains versus the euro and sterling ahead of this morning's weekly jobless claims figures from the Labor Department.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke hinted yesterday that the central bank will take a wait-and-see approach to dealing with the struggling economy.
By not signaling a third round of quantitative easing is in the cards, Bernake gave the dollar a significant boost.
The buck rose to $1.4215 versus the euro, taking back its losses from earlier in the week.
Markets have focused on the Greek debt crisis this week. Prime Minister George Papandreou's reshuffled government won a vote of confidence in Parliament, but now face the complicated task of passing severe austerity measures.
In exchange for reforms and cost-cutting, Greece will receive an installment of emergency loans from neighbors and the IMF that will allow it to avoid default for now.
The dollar broke through $1.60 versus the sterling for the first time since early April. Strong early gains took the buck to $1.5990, as the markets priced in expectations the Bank of England will expand its quantitative easing program.
The buck crawled higher versus the yen, rising to Y80.58 from yesterday's low near Y80.
The Labor Department is due to release its customary jobless claims report for the week ended June 18th at 8:30 am ET. Economists expect claims to edge up to 415,000 from the 414,000 reported for the previous week.
At 10 am ET, the Commerce Department is due to release its new home sales report for May. The consensus estimate calls for new homes sales of 305,000. In April, new home sales rose 7.3 percent month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 323,000.
