Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was almost unchanged against the yen on Thursday after reports showed that U.S. initial jobless claims rose to a two-month high last week, while U.S. personal spending rose to a more than five year high in March.
USD/JPY was last trading at 102.29, from 102.33 ahead of the data.
The pair was likely to find support at 102.02, Wednesday’s low and resistance at 102.65, Wednesday’s high.
The pair showed little reaction after the Department of Labor said the number of people filing for initial jobless benefits last week rose by 14,000 to 344,000, from the previous week’s upwardly revised total of 330,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to fall by 11,000 to 319,000.
At the same time, the Commerce Department reported that U.S. personal spending rose 0.9% in March, up from an upwardly revised 0.5% the previous month and ahead of expectations of 0.6%.
Consumer spending is the single biggest source of U.S. economic growth, accounting for as much as two-thirds of economic activity.
The report also showed personal income rose 0.5%, beating expectations for a 0.4% increase and after gaining 0.4% in February.
The dollar remained on the back foot after data on Wednesday showed that the U.S. economy expanded at an annual rate of just 0.1% in the first quarter, well below forecasts for an expansion of 1.2%.
Despite the sharp slowdown in growth the Federal Reserve said Wednesday it would reduce its bond purchases to $45 billion a month, in a widely expected decision. The Fed also said interest rates would remain on hold at record lows for a \"considerable time\" after the bond-buying program ends later this year.
The U.S. central bank acknowledged that first quarter growth was far weaker than expected, but added that growth had started to pick up in recent weeks.
Elsewhere, EUR/USD was trading at 1.3876, little changed from 1.3873 ahead of the economic reports. The pair rose to session highs of 1.3889 earlier.