Forexpros – The U.S. dollar trimmed back losses against most of its major counterparts on Thursday, following the release of a flurry of soft U.S. economic data, while ongoing concerns over Spain also supported safe haven demand.
During European afternoon trade, the dollar was hovering close to an almost two-year low against the euro, with EUR/USD up 0.15% to hit 1.2385.
In the U.S., official data showed that first quarter gross domestic product was revised to 1.9%, in line with expectations, from an initial estimate of 2.2%.
Meanwhile, the Department of Labor said the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week rose to 383,000, defying expectations for a decline of 3,000 to 370,000.
A separate report showed that the U.S. private sector added 133,000 jobs in May, missing expectations for an increase of 148,000.
The euro rose to a session high against the greenback earlier, bolstered by expectations that Ireland would pass a vote for the European Union’s fiscal treaty in a referendum on Thursday.
But ongoing worries over the situation in Spain, where mounting borrowing costs and the lack of a convincing plan to recapitalize stricken lender Bankia fuelled fears that Madrid will be forced to seek an international bailout.
The yield on Spain’s 10-year bond was hovering just below euro-era highs at 6.6% on Thursday, near the critical 7% threshold that led Greece, Ireland and Portugal to seek outside assistance.
The greenback was fractionally lower against the pound, with GBP/USD up just 0.04% to hit 1.5483.
Elsewhere, the greenback extended losses against the traditional safe haven yen, with USD/JPY dropping 0.56% to hit 78.62. The greenback pared back losses against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF down 0.17% to hit 0.9694.
The greenback was broadly lower against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD easing up 0.07% to hit 1.0306, AUD/USD rising 0.19% to hit 0.9722 and NZD/USD inching up 0.08% to hit 0.7537.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.20%, to trade at 83.00.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release data on business activity in the Chicago area.
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