The US dollar erased its initial post-data advances against other major currencies as trading progressed on Thursday morning in New York, shedding by more than 0.7 percent to a 3-day low of 0.9325 against the Swiss franc and reached lows of the day so far against the rest of majors.
The dollar ticked lower to 1.5324 against the pound around 8:45 am ET, pulling away from a 3-day high of 1.5264 hit a couple of hours ago. The greenback also fell as low as 99.54 against the yen, a bearish extension since its late Asian session's stalled rally. The dollar inched lower to 1.3238 against the euro, retracing from a 2-day high of 1.3165 hit post-German IFO data.
First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits saw a modest increase in the week ended July 20th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday, with claims coming in slightly above economist estimates.
The report said initial jobless claims rose to 343,000, an increase of 7,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 336,000. Economists had been expecting jobless claims to climb to 341,000 from the 334,000 originally reported for the previous week.
With orders for transportation equipment showing a substantial increase, the Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing that new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods rose by much more than expected in the month of June.
The report said durable goods orders surged up by 4.2 percent in June following an upwardly revised 5.2 percent jump in May. Economists had expected orders to rise by 1.5 percent compared to the 3.7 percent increase that had been reported for the previous month.
Excluding the 12.8 percent jump in orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders were unchanged in June compared to a 1.0 percent increase in May.
