Dollar Wobbles After Recent Gains

Chicago, IL 3/15/2012 (StreetBeat) – The dollar was mixed Thursday morning in New York, easing from a yearly high versus the yen while holding most of its recent gains versus the euro. Trading took place ahead of the latest figures on U.S. inflation and jobless claims.

European rivals to the dollar were stuck in the mud amid news that Fitch Ratings has downgraded the UK's credit rating outlook to 'negative' from 'stable', citing the economy's vulnerability to adverse economic shocks due to high indebtedness and weak economic outlook.

The dollar touched a monthly high of $1.3005 versus the euro, before leveling off to $1.3045.

Against the sterling, the dollar was little changed at $1.5650.

The Swiss National Bank on Thursday decided to maintain the minimum exchange rate of the Swiss franc at 1.20 per euro and also retained the key interest rate close to zero. The central bank said that the franc is still overvalued.

The dollar was down slightly at CHF0.9275 versus the franc, having touched a 2-month high of CHF 0.9334.

A week-long winning streak versus the yen is coming to an end, with the dollar sliding to Y83.40 from an 11-month peak of Y84.17.

The Labor Department is due to release its customary jobless claims report for the week ended March 10th at 8:30 am ET. Economists expect claims to decline to 355,000 in the recent reporting week from 362,000 in the previous week.

The Labor Department is also scheduled to release its report on the producer price index for February at 8:30 am ET. Economists expect the headline index for February to have risen by 0.5 percent, while the core producer price index may have increased by 0.2 percent.

Around the same time, the results of the New York Federal Reserve's empire state manufacturing survey is due. The headline general business conditions index for March is expected to come in at 17.50 after it rose 6 points to 19.5 in February.

The results of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve's manufacturing survey are due out at 10 am ET. Economists expect the diffusion index of current activity to show a reading of 11.5 for March compared to 10.2 in February.

StreetBeat Disclaimer

Distributed by Viestly