Investing.com - The U.S. dollar extended gains against its major counterparts in Asian trade Thursday, following the release of encouraging U.S. labor data and another wild trading session on Wall Street.
In early Asian trade, the greenback was higher against the euro, with EUR/USD falling 0.08% to hit 1.4228.
For investors looking for any positive trends in the U.S. economy, the market was greeted with a Labor Department report showing initial jobless claims dropped by 7,000 to a seasonally adjusted 395,000 last week.
Market expectations were for the figure to rise to 401,000 for the week ending August 6. It was the first time that U.S. jobless claims dipped below 400,000 since early April.
But any hopes of an extended period of U.S. job growth appeared unlikely after the Federal Reserve on Tuesday updated its forecast, predicting that the nation’s economic recovery would remain weak until 2013.
The Fed voted to extend its ultra-low interest rate policy until at least the middle of 2013.
Wall Street shares endured another roller coaster trading day, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average swinging to a 400-plus point change for the fourth straight session.
The Dow closed up 423 points, or up 4%, to close at 11,143.31. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 4.7% to 2,492.68, and the S&P 500 gained 4.6% to 1,172.64.
Previous to Thursday's session, the S&P 500 had lost nearly 18% from this year’s closing high set on April 29.
Meanwhile, the greenback was up against the British pound, with GBP/USD slipping 0.07% to 1.6226.
The dollar gained ground against both the yen and the Swiss franc with USD/JPY adding 0.03% to hit 76.86, and USD/CHF higher by 0.04% to hit 0.7620.
The greenback was higher against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts with USD/CAD up 0.19% to hit 0.9858, AUD/USD lower by 0.18% to hit 1.0332, and NZD/USD falling 0.39% to hit 0.8285.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.12% at 74.69.
The U.S. Census Bureau was scheduled to release monthly core retail sales Friday, an indicator of changes in consumer spending.
In early Asian trade, the greenback was higher against the euro, with EUR/USD falling 0.08% to hit 1.4228.
For investors looking for any positive trends in the U.S. economy, the market was greeted with a Labor Department report showing initial jobless claims dropped by 7,000 to a seasonally adjusted 395,000 last week.
Market expectations were for the figure to rise to 401,000 for the week ending August 6. It was the first time that U.S. jobless claims dipped below 400,000 since early April.
But any hopes of an extended period of U.S. job growth appeared unlikely after the Federal Reserve on Tuesday updated its forecast, predicting that the nation’s economic recovery would remain weak until 2013.
The Fed voted to extend its ultra-low interest rate policy until at least the middle of 2013.
Wall Street shares endured another roller coaster trading day, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average swinging to a 400-plus point change for the fourth straight session.
The Dow closed up 423 points, or up 4%, to close at 11,143.31. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 4.7% to 2,492.68, and the S&P 500 gained 4.6% to 1,172.64.
Previous to Thursday's session, the S&P 500 had lost nearly 18% from this year’s closing high set on April 29.
Meanwhile, the greenback was up against the British pound, with GBP/USD slipping 0.07% to 1.6226.
The dollar gained ground against both the yen and the Swiss franc with USD/JPY adding 0.03% to hit 76.86, and USD/CHF higher by 0.04% to hit 0.7620.
The greenback was higher against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts with USD/CAD up 0.19% to hit 0.9858, AUD/USD lower by 0.18% to hit 1.0332, and NZD/USD falling 0.39% to hit 0.8285.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.12% at 74.69.
The U.S. Census Bureau was scheduled to release monthly core retail sales Friday, an indicator of changes in consumer spending.