Investing.com - A mixed bag of U.S. indicators that contained few nuggets and a bevy of disappointments weakened the dollar against most major currencies on Wednesday by prompting investors to push back estimates as to when the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates next year.
The U.S. currency has seen hefty demand in recent sessions as markets prepare for U.S. monetary to tighten while Europe and Japan move in the opposite direction.
In U.S. trading on Wednesday, EUR/USD was up 0.28% at 1.2508.
The Labor Department reported earlier that the number of individuals filing new applications for unemployment benefits rose to 313,000 last week, a gain of 21,000. It was the highest level since early September, confounding market calls for a decrease of 5,000.
The number of continuing claims fell to a 14-year low of 2.31 million, indicating that the jobs market is still recovering.
At the same time, the Commerce Department reported that U.S. personal spending rose 0.2% in October, below forecasts for an increase 0.4%. Personal income also rose 0.2%, falling short of forecasts of 0.4%, which took its toll on the greenback.
While many expect the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in 2015, the timing of such a move remains up in the air, and Wednesday's data weakened the dollar by prompting investors to push back timetables later next year.
Elsewhere, the Census Bureau reported that durable goods orders rose 0.4% last month, beating expectations for a decline of 0.4%, but core durable goods orders, which are stripped of volatile transportation components, fell 0.9%, against forecasts for a 0.5% gain.
Also on Wednesday, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's final consumer sentiment index hit 88.8 from 86.9 in October, though still below the preliminary estimate of 89.4.
Industry data revealed that the Chicago purchasing managers’ index fell from 66.2 in October to 60.8 this month, below expectations of a figure of 63.1.
Finally, data showed that sales of new homes rose 0.7% in October to an annual rate of 458,000 units, but pending home sales unexpectedly fell 1.1% last month.
The dollar was down against the yen, with USD/JPY down 0.19% at 117.75, and down against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF down 0.29% at 0.9612.
The greenback was down against the pound, with GBP/USD up 0.58% at 1.5798.
Sterling rose after data on confirmed that the U.K. economy grew 0.7% in the July-to-September period, and expanded 3.0% on a year-over-year basis, in line with the preliminary estimates released last month.
The dollar was mixed against its cousins in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with USD/CAD down 0.20% at 1.1235, AUD/USD up 0.23% at 0.8552 and NZD/USD up 0.96% at 0.7883.
The US dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.31% at 87.69.
U.S. markets will be closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday.