Investing.com – The dollar was flat against a basket of major currencies as mixed U.S. economic data weighed on sentiment ahead of crucial U.S. GDP data due Friday.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose 0.02% to 97.88.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday that initial jobless claims rose by 37,000 to a seasonally adjusted 230,000 for the week ended April 21, missing economists’ forecast for a rise to 199,000.
The Commerce Department said on Wednesday core durable goods orders rose 0.4% last month, beating economists' forecasts for a 0.2% rise.
Non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, rose 1.3% last month, well above expectations for a 0.1% increase.
The mixed reports came a day ahead of preliminary first-quarter GDP data, which some say may show the impact from the government shutdown last year.
“We note greater uncertainty in Q1 GDP than usual, thanks largely to the government shutdown over December-January, which led to delayed salary payments for 800,000 federal employees, and disruption to tax refunds and regulatory approvals,” Bill Diviney, senior economist at ABN AMRO (AS:ABNd), said.
GBP/USD fell 0.04% to $1.2895 as pressure continues to mount on U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May to resign despite reports the prime minister may bring her withdrawal agreement back to the House of Common for fourth vote next week.
EUR/USD fell 0.17% to $1.1133 and USD/CAD was flat at C$1.3489.
USD/JPY fell 0.54% to Y111.57 as the yen remained firm even as the Bank of Japan kept its monetary policy stance unchanged and downgraded growth and inflation forecasts.
Core CPI forecasts were lowered to a rate of 1.4% by the end of fiscal 2020/21, from 1.5% previously.