Forex Pros – The U.S. dollar was down against all of its major counterparts on Thursday, as expectations that the Federal Reserve will continue to keep monetary policy loose spurred increased demand for higher yielding assets.
During European morning trade, the greenback was down against the euro, with EUR/USD rising 0.21% to hit 1.4473.
The dollar’s losses came after data on Wednesday showed that U.S. retail sales rose less-than-expected in March and the Fed’s Beige Book report said that while the economic recovery in the U.S. was continuing, the disaster in Japan and higher energy prices created new uncertainty about the outlook.
The greenback was also lower against the pound, with GBP/USD climbing 0.43% to hit 1.6338.
Earlier in the day, Nationwide Building Society said its U.K. consumer confidence index rebounded in March.
Elsewhere, the greenback was down against the yen and the Swiss franc with USD/JPY shedding 0.58% to hit 83.34 and USD/CHF sliding 0.26% to hit 0.8939.
In addition, the greenback was lower against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand cousins, with USD/CAD slipping 0.20% to hit 0.9600, AUD/USD rising 0.15% to hit 1.0523 and NZD/USD gaining 0.41% to hit 0.7926.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.35% to hit a 16-month low.
Later Thursday, the U.S. was to publish government data on initial jobless claims and producer price inflation.