Investing.com - The dollar edged lower against a currency basket on Thursday giving back some of the previous sessions strong gains after a slate of U.S. economic reports.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, dipped 0.13% to 89.64 by 09:16 AM ET (13:16 GMT). The index rose 0.88% on Wednesday.
The dollar ticked lower after data showing that U.S. consumer spending rose only modestly in February and another report showing that jobless claims fell to a 45-year low last week.
The Commerce Department reported that consumer spending rose 0.2% last month, lagging behind income growth, which rose 0.4% last month.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation climbed 1.8% year-over-year, the most in nearly a year.
Another report showed that U.S. jobless claims fell to 215,000 last week, a more-than 45 year low.
The data did little to alter expectations that the Federal Reserve will stick to its plan for gradual interest rate hikes this year. The Fed hiked rates for the first time this year last week and stuck to its projection for three rate hikes this year.
The dollar rallied on Wednesday on faster U.S. economic growth and hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough with North Korea.
The euro edged higher against the dollar, with EUR/USD inching up 0.11% to 1.2323, pulling away from the one-week low of 1.2295 hit earlier.
The dollar remained lower against the yen, with USD/JPY down 0.33% to 106.49, after ending Wednesday’s session with gains of 1.4%, the largest increase since September 11.
Sterling was a touch lower against the dollar, with GBP/USD dipping 0.12% to 1.4058.
The Canadian dollar held slight gains against its U.S. counterpart despite weak domestic economic growth data, with USD/CAD down 0.12% at 1.2907.
Canadian economic growth contracted 0.1% in January according to official figures released on Thursday, missing expectations for growth of 0.1%.