Forexpros – The euro trimmed losses against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, after official data showed that U.S. jobless claims fell to the lowest level since February 2008 last week, adding to indications that the economic recovery in the U.S. is gaining traction.
EUR/USD pulled back from 1.3134, the pair’s lowest since March 16, to hit 1.3172 during European afternoon trade, still down 0.33% on the day.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3048, the low of March 16 and resistance at 1.3253, the session high.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell to a seasonally adjusted 348,000, beating expectations for a decline of 3,000 to 350,000.
The previous week’s figure was revised up to 353,000 from 351,000.
Jobless claims have remained below 400,000, a level historically associated with an improving labor market, in 19 of the past 21 weeks.
The euro weakened broadly earlier after preliminary data showed that manufacturing activity in the euro zone slumped unexpectedly in March, remaining in contraction territory for the eighth consecutive month, sparking concerns that the region’s economy is sliding back into a recession.
Service sector activity in the region declined to the lowest level in four months in March.
A separate report showed that industrial new orders in the euro zone dropped more-than-expected in January, falling 2.3% but the previous months figure was revised higher.
Also Thursday, a report showed that China’s HSBC manufacturing index contracted for a fifth successive month in March, as new orders fell, underlining fears over a possible slowdown in growth in the worlds second largest economy.
The euro was fractionally higher against the pound, with EUR/GBP easing up 0.09% to hit 0.8333 but remained lower against the yen, with EUR/JPY shedding 0.63% to hit 109.53.
Later in the day, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke were to speak at public engagements.
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