WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. dollar weakened against some of its peers on Thursday, retreating from a three-month high, with investors continuing to react to the minutes of the Federal Reserve's June meeting, and tracking economic data from the U.S. and other parts of the world.
Notes from the Fed's June meeting indicated officials weren't ready to communicate a timeline for slowing stimulus, given uncertainties around the economic outlook.
The Labor Department's report showed initial jobless claims unexpectedly inched higher in the week ended July 3rd. The report said jobless claims crept up to 373,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised level of 371,000.
The uptick surprised economists, who had expected jobless claims to drop to 350,000 from the 364,000 originally reported for the previous week.
The dollar index, which fell to 92.24 around mid morning, recovered some lost ground, but still remains weak at 92.38, down nearly 0.3% from the previous close.
Against the Euro, the dollar has weakened to $1.1846, giving up nearly 0.5%. The European Central Bank said on Thursday it will aim for a symmetric 2% inflation target and will allow a temporary overshoot.
'This target is symmetric, meaning negative and positive deviations of inflation from the target are equally undesirable,' the bank said in its latest monetary policy strategy review statement. The central bank's earlier targeted Eurozone inflation 'below, but close to 2%.'
The Pound Sterling is weaker against the dollar, fetching $1.3792 a unit, marginally down from $1.3801 Wednesday evening.
Against the Yen, the dollar shed ground, dropping to 109.76 yen, compared with the previous close of 110.62.
Against the Aussie, the dollar strengthened to 0.7430 a unit of the Australian currency, gaining from 0.7487.
The Swiss franc firmed to 0.9149 a dollar, gaining from 0.9255. Switzerland's jobless rate decreased marginally in June, data from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs showed. The jobless rate fell a seasonally to 3.1% in June from 3.2% in May.
On an unadjusted basis, the unemployment rate fell to 2.8% in June from 3.1% in the previous month.
Against the Loonie, the dollar firmed to fetch C$ 1.2531, up from C$ 1.2481, despite oil prices coming off lows and settling higher after data showed a bigger than expected drop in U.S. crude and gasoline inventories last week.
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