Market News
Dollar under pressure as traders weigh economic data; yen set for strong weekly finish - REUTERS
By Chibuike Oguh
NEW YORK, Feb 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar edged lower against major currencies on Thursday as traders assessed a stream of economic indicators for their monetary policy implications while the Japanese yen continued its march towards one of its strongest weekly finishes in a year.
U.S. Labor Department data on Thursday showed a less than expected decrease in the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment, consistent with economists' view that the labor market was stabilizing.
That data was on top of indicators showing a drop in the U.S. unemployment rate amid strong jobs growth in January and weak retail sales in December. Inflation figures are due on Friday.
The euro was last up 0.12% against the dollar at $1.18845. The dollar was down 0.49% against the Swiss franc at 0.76810.
"I think we're still looking for guidance on a lot of the bigger questions around the Fed and the state of the U.S. economy, which are tied together," said Marvin Loh, senior global market strategist at State Street in Boston.
"Earlier in the week, we got retail sales numbers that made things look pretty bad and then we got a payroll numbers, which were pretty much affirming the no-fire, no-hire environment that we have and one where the Fed is going to wait on hold until it gets a better sense on tariffs, inflation, and whether or not the retail sales numbers are actually signalling an impending recession," Loh added.
