Investing.com - The dollar edged higher against other major currencies on Thursday, helped by the release of upbeat U.S. jobless claims data, although investors remained cautious ahead of a U.S.-China summit scheduled later in the day.
EUR/USD held steady at 1.0656, just off a three-week low of 1.0629.
The U.S. Department of Labor said initial jobless claims decreased by 25,000 to 234,000 in the week ending April 1 from the previous week’s revised total of 259,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to drop by 8,000 to 250,000 last week.
The greenback had weakened after the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s March meeting indicated that the central bank would likely begin trimming its $4.5 trillion balance sheet of Treasury and mortgage securities later this year.
While the unwinding had been anticipated by markets, the timing of the move had not been clear.
Meanwhile, investors also remained cautious ahead of the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later Thursday, which will include discussions on U.S.-China trade and security issues, including North Korea’s arms program.
Trump has repeatedly criticized China's economic policies and pledged to label China a currency manipulator on the first day of his administration, but so far he has not.
At the same time, sentiment on the euro was fragile after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said on Thursday that the bank is not planning to reassess its current monetary policy of low interest rates and bond buying.
Draghi reiterated that the current monetary policy stance was still appropriate and the bank needed to see more signs that inflation was approaching its target before making any policy changes.
Elsewhere, GBP/USD slipped 0.18% to 1.2460.
USD/JPY rose 0.23% to 110.96, while USD/CHF was almost unchanged at 1.0043.
The Australian dollar was weaker, with AUD/USD down 0.15% at 0.7560, while NZD/USD edged up 0.16% to 0.6977.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD was almost unchanged at 1.3434.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.10% at 100.56, not far from Wednesday’s three-week high of 100.99.