NEW YORK: Weekly US jobless claims on Thursday once again surged over 1 million, which helped the dollar solidify gains it made on Wednesday after less dovish-than-expected minutes from last month's US Federal Reserve policy meeting lifted the greenback off a two-year low.
The dollar index has climbed about 1% from the two-year low of 92.124 hit on Tuesday. Mid-morning on Thursday the index was roughly flat on the day at 92.954, but was broadly maintaining the previous days' gains as weak economic data helped the safe-haven currency.
Other safe havens like the Japanese yen, also benefited, last up 0.14% to 105.95 yen per dollar. The Labour Department reported on Thursday that the number of Americans filing a new claim for unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly to 1.106 million for the week ended Aug. 15, from the 971,000 the week before.
The previous week's level had marked the first time since March that new claims had registered below 1 million. The euro - the biggest beneficiary of dollar weakness - fell back below $1.19, though it was very slightly higher on Thursday at $1.184.
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