Investing.com – The dollar rose against a basket of major currencies Thursday as investors mulled over upbeat labor market and mixed regional manufacturing data while easing global trade war fears lifted sentiment.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose 0.40% to 90.11.
The Philadelphia Fed said Thursday its manufacturing index slipped to a reading of 22.3 in March, from 25.8 in February.
The Empire State Index rose to a reading of 22.5 in March from 13.1 in February, the New York Fed said. That beat economists’ expectations for reading of 15.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday that initial jobless claims fell 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 226,000 for the week ended March 3, beating forecasts for reading of 230,000.
The trio of data comes as investor focused shifted to the Federal Reserve as the U.S. central bank is widely expected to hike rates at its meeting next week and provide an update on near-term expectations for monetary policy.
USD/JPY fell 0.08% to Y106.22 amid a drop in safe-haven demand as trade war fears eased after the director of the White House National Trade Council, Peter Navarro played down the prospect of a global trade war.
EUR/USD fell 0.50% to $1.2305, while USD/CAD rose 0.76 % to C$1.3056
GBP/USD fell 0.19% to $1.3936 as Brexit-related issued flared amid reports that the UK, European Commission and Irish government will hold a month of talks on the Irish-border issue, which has so far proved a strain on Brexit negotiations.
The talks will get under way on March 26 and last until April 18, Bloomberg reported citing officials familiar with the plans.