Forexpros - The euro pushed higher against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, following the release of upbeat U.S. data, as the greenback took a breather after posting strong gains this week. EUR/USD hit 1.3082 during U.S. morning trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3069, gaining 0.29%. The pair was likely to find support at 1.3003, the session low and the pair’s lowest since February 16 and resistance at 1.3158, the high of March 12. Earlier Thursday, the Department of Labor said number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell back to a four-year low of 351,000, beating expectations for a decline to 356,000. Separate reports showed that manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region expanded at a faster than forecast rate in March, rising to the highest level in 11 months, while manufacturing activity in New York improved unexpectedly, climbing to the highest level since June 2010. Elsewhere, official data showed that U.S. producer price inflation rose slightly less-than-expected in February, increasing by a seasonally adjusted 0.4%, below expectations for a 0.5% gain, while core producer prices rose 0.2% last month, in line with expectations. The data underlined the view that the U.S. economic recovery is gathering momentum, after the Federal Reserve upgraded its outlook on the economy earlier this week, causing investors to trim back expectations for a third round of quantitative easing. The euro was higher against the pound, with EUR/GBP adding 0.32% to hit 0.8340 but weakened against the yen, with EUR/JPY slipping 0.24% to hit 108.85. In the euro zone earlier, official data showed that the number of people employed in the region fell by 0.2% in the last three months of 2011 and also 0.2% year-on-year, in line with expectations.

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