Investing.com - The dollar was trading close to three-week lows against the other major currencies on Thursday as investors positioned ahead of the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting later in the trading day.
EUR/USD was last up 0.33% at 1.1277.
Investors were set to scrutinize the minutes of the Fed’s September meeting for any clues on whether it will hike rates before the years end or wait until 2016.
The dollar has come under pressure since last Friday’s weaker than expected U.S. jobs report prompted investors to push back expectations on the timing of an initial rate hike to next year.
Earlier Thursday data showed that the number of people filing first time claims for jobless benefits in the U.S. last week fell to the lowest level in almost 42 years, indicating that the labor markets is continuing to tighten despite the slowdown in job creation.
The Labor Department said the number of initial jobless claims in the week ending October 3 fell by 13,000 to 263,000 from the previous week’s downwardly revised total of 276,000.
In the euro zone, data on Thursday showed that German exports fell by a larger than forecast 5.2% in August from a month earlier, while imports were down 3.1%, pointing to weakening domestic demand.
The slump in exports added to fears that slowing growth in China is hitting overseas demand for German products, further clouding the outlook for the euro area’s largest economy.
Thursday’s minutes of the European Central Bank’s September meeting showed concerns over emerging economies, noting that challenges facing emerging market economies were clouding the global outlook and were unlikely to recede quickly.
The dollar edged lower against the yen, with USD/JPY easing 0.11% to 119.89, but was slightly higher against sterling, with GBP/USD sliding 0.19% to 1.5290.
The pound turned lower after the Bank of England left monetary policy on hold earlier Thursday and said it now believes inflation will rise more slowly than it expected two months ago.
The greenback was lower against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF down 0.69% to 0.9669.
The commodity linked currencies were little changed, with USD/CAD at 1.3041. AUD/USD was at 0.7204 and NZD/USD was at 0.6616.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was down 0.2% at 95.45.