Dollar mixed vs. rivals with U.S. data ahead

Investing.com - The dollar was mixed against the other major currencies in subdued trade on Thursday, as markets were eyeing the release of U.S. economic growth data later in the day amid ongoing speculation over the future of the Federal Reserve's stimulus program.

During European morning trade, the dollar was higher against the yen, with USD/JPY up 0.34% to 98.77.

Investors were eyeing the final reading of U.S. second quarter gross domestic product due later in the day, after a recent string of economic reports underlined concerns over the outlook for the U.S. economic recovery.

Stronger-than-expected GDP data would likely fuel speculation that the Fed could announce a stimulus reduction before the year end.

Last week, the Fed said it wanted to see more evidence of a sustained economic recovery before it reduced stimulus.

Separately, U.S. budget concerns weighed on sentiment as Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives notified members that a vote on raison the debt limit could come as early as Friday.

Elsewhere, the euro slipped lower against the dollar, with EUR/USD falling 0.14% to 1.3508.

The single currency remained mildly supported after data on Wednesday showed that German consumer confidence is seen rising to the highest level since June 2007 in October.

The forward looking GfK index of German consumer confidence rose to 7.1, and this month’s reading was revised up from 6.9 to 7.

The dollar was higher against the pound and the Swiss franc, with GBP/USD shedding 0.21% to 1.6048 and USD/CHF edging up 0.10% to trade at 0.9101.

Official data earlier showed that U.K. GDP expanded by 0.7% in the second quarter, in line with market expectations.

On a yearly basis, U.K. GDP rose 1.3% in the three months to June, compared to expectations for a 1.5% increase.

A separate report showed that the U.K. current account deficit narrowed less-than-expected in the last quarter, improving to GBP13 billion from a deficit of GBP21.8 billion in the three months to March.

Analysts had expected the current account deficit to narrow to GBP12 billion in the second quarter.

Elsewhere, the greenback was broadly lower against its Australian, New Zealand and Canadian counterparts, with AUD/USD gaining 0.33% to 0.9398, NZD/USD climbing 0.61% to 0.8291 and USD/CAD dipping 0.05% to 1.0309.

The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.13% to 80.52.

Later in the day, the U.S. was to release the weekly report on initial jobless claims, as well as final data on second quarter growth and private sector data on pending home sales.