The U.S. dollar strengthened against the Great Britain pound and the Japanese yen, in the same time the greenback weakened versus the euro, as the macroeconomic indicators posted the mixed set of results today.
The unemployment claims pleasantly surprised the market participants, declining to 454,000 in the previous week, compared to the median forecast of 461,000. The consumer credit contracted by $9.1 billion, compared to the expected value of $1.9 billion. The labor market showed signs of improvement, yet the improvement expected to be slow, making the consumers unwilling to take loans.
As the data from the U.S. was fairly neutral, the dollar followed the moves of other currencies. The optimistic outlook for the global growth continues to push the euro up and the yen down, while the concern about the budget cuts drags down the pound.
EUR/USD traded at 1.2699 as of 20:45 GMT after opening at 1.2637. GBP/USD traded near 1.5168. USD/JPY traded at about 88.30, climbing from the opening price of 87.70.
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