Investing.com - The dollar was lower against a basket of other major currencies on Wednesday after data showed that U.S. first quarter growth was revised sharply lower and durable goods orders fell unexpectedly last month.
The Commerce Department said U.S. gross domestic product contracted at an annual rate of 2.9% in the first three months of the year, compared to the consensus forecast for a decline of 1.7%.
U.S. first quarter GDP was initially reported to have increased by 0.1%, but was subsequently revised to show a contraction of 1.0%.
The difference between the second and third estimate was the largest since records began in 1976, the Commerce Department said.
A separate report showed that U.S. durable goods orders fell 1.0% in May, while core durable goods orders fell 0.1%. Market expectations had been for an increase of 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively.
The weak data indicated that the Federal Reserve may need to keep rates on hold at record lows for longer than thought.
EUR/USD rose to highs of 1.3652 before pulling back to 1.3632, from around 1.3609 before the release of the data.
The dollar was also weaker against the yen, with USD/JPY down 0.15% to 101.80.
The pound was slightly lower, GBP/USD dipping 0.06% to 1.6975, off lows of 1.6952.
Sterling remained under pressure as expectations for a U.K. rate hike this year cooled after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney indicated that recent weak wage growth could prompt the bank to keep rates on hold for longer.
Meanwhile, USD/CHF was down 0.20% to 0.8920.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars climbed to session highs, with AUD/USD adding 0.23% to trade at 0.9388 and NZD/USD rising 0.67% to 0.8729.
USD/CAD was down 0.16% to 1.0725, not far from the five-and-a-half month low of 1.0715 set in the previous session.
The US Dollar Index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was at 80.25 after initially falling to lows of 80.17, the weakest since May 22.