Investing.com - The euro was little changed against the dollar on Thursday as investors awaited the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting later in the session for fresh indications on the path of monetary policy.
EUR/USD was at 1.1244, off the four-day high of 1.1314 struck earlier in the session.
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 also showed concerns over emerging economies, noting that challenges facing emerging market economies were clouding the global outlook and were unlikely to recede quickly.
The euro was steady against the yen, with EUR/JPY at 134.89, while EUR/GBP was up 0.32% to 0.7360.
Sterling 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.
GBP/USD eased 0.19% to 1.5287 from around 1.5343 ahead of the policy announcement.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was steady at 95.63.