WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. dollar firmed against some of its major counterparts on Tuesday as concerns about recession eased a bit after recent comments from Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee who said that that recent weaker than expected job numbers and other data do not suggest that the U.S. economy is in a recession yet.
The Commerce Department said the trade deficit shrank to $73.1 billion in June from a revised $75.0 billion in May.
Economists had expected the trade deficit to decrease to $72.4 billion from the $75.1 billion originally reported for the previous month.
The narrower trade deficit came as the value of exports jumped by 1.5% to $265.9 billion, while the value of imports rose by 0.6% to $339.0 billion.
The Atlanta Fed raised its third quarter growth projection for the U.S. economy on Tuesday, citing latest economic data including the ISM indexes.
Real gross domestic product growth estimate, based on the Atlanta Fed's GDPNow model, was lifted to 2.9% from 2.5% predicted on August 1.
The dollar index, which climbed to 103.23, eased to 102.94, but still remained firm with a gain of about 0.25%.
Against the Euro, the dollar strengthened to 1.0930 from 1.0953. The dollar firmed to 1.2690 against Pound Sterling, and against the Japanese currency, it advanced to 144.44 yen, gaining 0.18%.
The dollar weakened against the Aussie t0 0.6520. The Swiss franc firmed marginally to 0.8515 a unit of the greenback. Against the Loonie, the dollar was down at C$1.3787.
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