Investing.com - The dollar gave up gains against the euro on Thursday, turning broadly lower after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen acknowledged recent weakness in U.S. data, saying it indicates softness in the economy.
EUR/USD rose 0.18% to 1.3710 after falling to lows of 1.3643 earlier, the weakest level since February 13.
In testimony to the Senate banking committee in Washington, Ms. Yellen said it was hard to say how much the recent soft data was due to weather and added that the bank would be attentive to signals on whether the recovery is progressing in line with expectations.
The euro weakened earlier amid concerns over heightened tensions between Russia and Ukraine, after armed men seized government headquarters and the regional parliament in Crimea.
Ukraine’s parliament appointed a new government on Thursday, headed by former economy minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, after pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted last week.
The euro’s gains looked likely to be held in check after lackluster German inflation data on Thursday added to concerns over the threat of deflation in the euro zone, ahead of euro zone inflation data on Friday and the European Central Bank’s upcoming meeting next week.
USD/JPY was down 0.20% to 102.18, off session lows of 101.73.
Earlier Thursday, the Commerce Department reported that U.S. durable goods orders declined by a seasonally adjusted 1% last month, compared to expectations for a 1.5% drop.
Core durable goods orders, excluding volatile transportation items, rose 1.1% in January, the largest increase since May, confounding forecasts for a 0.3% decline.
A separate report showed that the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week rose by 14,000 to 348,000 from the previous week’s total of 334,000. Analysts had expected an increase of just 1,000.
Elsewhere, GBP/USD edged up 0.11% to 1.6687, while USD/CHF was down 0.30% to 0.8878.
The Australian dollar recovered from three-week lows, with AUD/USD down 0.09% to 0.8959. Meanwhile, NZD/USD was up 0.83% to 0.8382.
The U.S. dollar edged against the Canadian dollar, with USD/CAD rising 0.08% to 1.1141.
The Canadian dollar found some support after official data showed that the domestic current account deficit widened to a seasonally adjusted C$16.0 billion in the fourth quarter from a deficit of C$14.8 billion in the previous quarter.
Analysts had expected the current account deficit to widen to C$17.0 billion.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.15% to 80.32.