Investing.com - The dollar remained broadly higher against the other main currencies on Thursday, bolstered by growing expectations that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates sooner than anticipated, while upbeat U.S. data eased concerns over the economic outlook.
EUR/USD was last down 0.36% to 1.3781, after falling to two-week lows of 1.3750 earlier.
At the conclusion of its two-day policy setting meeting on Wednesday, the Fed said it would reduce its monthly bond purchases by an additional $10 billion to $55 billion.
The dollar rallied after Fed Chair Janet Yellen indicated that the bank could begin to raise interest rates about six months after the central bank’s bond-buying program winds up, which is expected to happen this fall.
The comments prompted investors to bring forward expectations for a rate hike to as early as April of next year.
Meanwhile, data on Thursday showed that U.S. initial jobless claims rose less-then-expected last week, while another report showed that manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia-region expanded at a faster rate than expected in March.
The Department of Labor reported that the number of people filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending March 15 rose by 5,000 to 320,000 from the previous week’s total of 315,000. Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 10,000 last week.
The upbeat data reinforced the view that recent softness in U.S. economic reports was due to severe winter weather.
Separately, the National Association of Realtors said existing homes sales fell in February, as adverse weather and rising prices weighed.
The dollar was steady against the yen, with USD/JPY edging up 0.06% to 102.38, not far from Wednesday’s two-week highs of 102.67.
Elsewhere, the dollar climbed to two-week highs against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF rising 0.32% to 0.8837. The Swiss franc slipped after the Swiss National Bank left rates on hold at 0.0% on Thursday and said it was maintaining its 1.20 minimum exchange rate floor against the euro.
The dollar was steady close to five-week lows against the pound, with GBP/USD down 0.21% to 1.6502.
The Australian dollar was little changed, with AUD/USD trading at 0.9039. Meanwhile, USD/CAD was up 0.07% 1.1246 not far from the four-and-a-half year peaks of 1.1270 hit earlier in the session.
The New Zealand dollar was also lower, with NZD/USD down 0.30% to 0.8534. Earlier Thursday, official data showed that New Zealand’s economy grew 0.9% in the fourth quarter, falling short of expectations for 1% growth, while growth in the previous three months was revised slightly lower.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.27% to 80.35.