WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. dollar gained against some of its major counterparts on Thursday with investors continuing to react to the data on U.S. consumer price and producer price inflation, the Federal Reserve's policy announcement, and the post meeting comments from the central bank.
The Federal Reserve, which left rates unchanged on Wednesday, said inflation has eased substantially in recent months but still remains too high.
The accompanying statement from the central bank indicated that more participants expect to cut twice than once, but no one expects to cut more than twice. Four policymakers have reportedly said they don't expect a rate cut this year.
A report released by the U.S. Labor Department today showed the producer price index for final demand dipped by 0.2% in May after climbing by 0.5% in April. Economists had expected producer prices to inch up by 0.1%.
The report also said the annual rate of producer price growth slowed to 2.2% in May from an upwardly revised 2.3% in April. Economists had expected the annual rate of producer price growth to accelerate to 2.5% from the 2.2% originally reported for the previous month.
A separate data from the Labor Department said initial jobless claims climbed to 242,000 in the week ended June 8th, an increase of 13,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 229,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 225,000.
With the unexpected increase, jobless claims reached their highest level since hitting 248,000 in the week ended August 12, 2023.
The dollar index climbed to 105.28, gaining about 0.6%.
Against the Euro, the dollar firmed to 1.0741 from 1.0809. The dollar strengthened to 1.2766 against Pound Sterling from 1.2796. Against the Japanese currency, the dollar gained to 157.02 yen from 156.71 yen.
The dollar gained against the Aussie, firming to 0.6638. Against Swiss franc, the greenback weakened a bit to CHF 0.8934. The Loonie weakened to 1.3740 against the greenback.
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