Investing.com - The dollar traded higher against the yen on Thursday after the U.S. government revised the country's second-quarter gross domestic product growth rate up slightly.
The Federal Reserve, meanwhile, released its latest Beige Book, a group of economic summaries, which pointed to a modest recovery and fueled hopes that spending data due out Thursday will come in strong.
Soft retail sales data out of Japan pushed the yen down slightly.
In Asian trading on Thursday, USD/JPY was trading at 78.72, up 0.02%, up from a session low of 78.70 and off a high of 78.73.
The pair was likely to find support at 78.63, the low from Aug. 26, and resistance at 78.79, the high from Aug. 29.
The Commerce Department revised its second-quarter growth estimate up two percentage points to 1.7% from 1.5%, mainly due to stronger consumer spending and exports, which prompted investors to buy greenback on the notion that even though the country's recovery remains somewhat sluggish, the country is advancing.
Furthermore, the Federal Reserve's Beige Book released earlier showed that while manufacturing continues at a choppy pace, the country is moving forward
The U.S. will unveil official data on personal consumption expenditures and personal spending later Thursday, and the GDP revisions and Beige Book stoked sentiments the data may surprise for the better.
Housing data surprised on the upside as well.
The National Association of Realtors said its index of pending home sales index rose 2.4% in July, far outpacing expectations for a 1.0% increase.
Year-on-year, pending home sales rose 15.0% in July, beating out market calls for an 11.1% increase, after rising by 8.4% in June.
The data came a day in the footsteps of bullish home pricing data.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday showed a gain of 0.5% from June 2011, the first annual increase since 2010.
Analysts were expecting the figure to contract 0.1%.
Meanwhile in Japan, retail sales fell more than expected in July.
The Japanese Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry reported that retail sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of -0.8% in July from 0.2% in the preceding month.
Analysts had expected retail sales to fall at annual rate of -0.2% last month.
The yen was up against the pound and up against the euro, with GBP/JPY down 0.03% and trading at 124.58 and EUR/JPY down 0.01% and trading at 98.61.
Investors are keeping an eye ahead for Friday, when the Federal Reserve hosts its annual symposium at Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has used the event to announce policy actions in the past, mo9st notably the Fed's second round of quantitative easing.
The Federal Reserve, meanwhile, released its latest Beige Book, a group of economic summaries, which pointed to a modest recovery and fueled hopes that spending data due out Thursday will come in strong.
Soft retail sales data out of Japan pushed the yen down slightly.
In Asian trading on Thursday, USD/JPY was trading at 78.72, up 0.02%, up from a session low of 78.70 and off a high of 78.73.
The pair was likely to find support at 78.63, the low from Aug. 26, and resistance at 78.79, the high from Aug. 29.
The Commerce Department revised its second-quarter growth estimate up two percentage points to 1.7% from 1.5%, mainly due to stronger consumer spending and exports, which prompted investors to buy greenback on the notion that even though the country's recovery remains somewhat sluggish, the country is advancing.
Furthermore, the Federal Reserve's Beige Book released earlier showed that while manufacturing continues at a choppy pace, the country is moving forward
The U.S. will unveil official data on personal consumption expenditures and personal spending later Thursday, and the GDP revisions and Beige Book stoked sentiments the data may surprise for the better.
Housing data surprised on the upside as well.
The National Association of Realtors said its index of pending home sales index rose 2.4% in July, far outpacing expectations for a 1.0% increase.
Year-on-year, pending home sales rose 15.0% in July, beating out market calls for an 11.1% increase, after rising by 8.4% in June.
The data came a day in the footsteps of bullish home pricing data.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday showed a gain of 0.5% from June 2011, the first annual increase since 2010.
Analysts were expecting the figure to contract 0.1%.
Meanwhile in Japan, retail sales fell more than expected in July.
The Japanese Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry reported that retail sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of -0.8% in July from 0.2% in the preceding month.
Analysts had expected retail sales to fall at annual rate of -0.2% last month.
The yen was up against the pound and up against the euro, with GBP/JPY down 0.03% and trading at 124.58 and EUR/JPY down 0.01% and trading at 98.61.
Investors are keeping an eye ahead for Friday, when the Federal Reserve hosts its annual symposium at Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has used the event to announce policy actions in the past, mo9st notably the Fed's second round of quantitative easing.