Investing.com - The euro was steady against the dollar on Thursday as hopes for a short term deal to raise the U.S. debt ceiling and avoid a sovereign debt default lent support to the dollar.
EUR/USD hit 1.3488 during U.S. morning trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3521, dipping 0.01%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3400 and resistance at 1.3590, the high of October 7.
Hopes that the partial U.S. government shutdown may soon end received a boost from news that House Republican leaders were to hold their first meeting with President Barack Obama since the shutdown began later on Thursday.
President Obama has demanded Republicans raise the U.S. debt ceiling and reopen the government before negotiations on future fiscal policy can take place.
Demand for the dollar was also underpinned after the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting showed that most policymakers were still in favor of tapering stimulus this year.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew reiterated Thursday that the U.S. will reach its debt ceiling on October 17 and warned that the political crisis is starting to hurt the economy. The comments came during testimony to the Senate finance committee.
The greenback shrugged off a report by the Department of Labor showing that U.S. initial jobless claims rose to a six-month high of 374,000 last week, an increase of 66,000 from the previous week's unrevised figure of 308,000.
The government shutdown accounted for 15,000 claims, the report said.
Elsewhere, the euro was little changed against the pound, with EUR/GBP inching up 0.01% to 0.8475.
Sterling showed little reaction after the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee voted to leave its benchmark interest rate on hold at 0.5% and made no changes to its GBP375 billion quantitative easing program, in a decision that was widely expected.
EUR/USD hit 1.3488 during U.S. morning trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3521, dipping 0.01%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3400 and resistance at 1.3590, the high of October 7.
Hopes that the partial U.S. government shutdown may soon end received a boost from news that House Republican leaders were to hold their first meeting with President Barack Obama since the shutdown began later on Thursday.
President Obama has demanded Republicans raise the U.S. debt ceiling and reopen the government before negotiations on future fiscal policy can take place.
Demand for the dollar was also underpinned after the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting showed that most policymakers were still in favor of tapering stimulus this year.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew reiterated Thursday that the U.S. will reach its debt ceiling on October 17 and warned that the political crisis is starting to hurt the economy. The comments came during testimony to the Senate finance committee.
The greenback shrugged off a report by the Department of Labor showing that U.S. initial jobless claims rose to a six-month high of 374,000 last week, an increase of 66,000 from the previous week's unrevised figure of 308,000.
The government shutdown accounted for 15,000 claims, the report said.
Elsewhere, the euro was little changed against the pound, with EUR/GBP inching up 0.01% to 0.8475.
Sterling showed little reaction after the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee voted to leave its benchmark interest rate on hold at 0.5% and made no changes to its GBP375 billion quantitative easing program, in a decision that was widely expected.