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The dollar remained strong versus its beleaguered euro area counterpart on Thursday, but edged lower against the resurgent yen amid growing concerns about the pace of the US economic recovery.
The yen has once again become a favored safe haven play, supported by increasing evidence that the US jobs market remains distressed.
On Capitol Hill this week, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke reiterated that extraordinarily low interest rates are necessary for an extended period in order to support a gradual economic recovery.
Today's reassurances on low rates came on the heels of data showing another unexpected increase in first-time claims for unemployment benefits in the week ended February 20th.
The report showed that initial jobless claims rose to 496,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 474,000. Economists had been expecting jobless claims to slip to 460,000 from the 473,000 originally reported for the previous week.
The buck slumped below 89 versus the yen for the first time in three weeks. On a longer term basis, the dollar moved closer to a 15-year low of 84.08.
On the flip side, the dollar gained on the euro, coming within a hair of last week's 9-month high of 1.3444 before hitting resistance. The euro has been beset by slow economic growth and concerns that Greek debt problems will spread.
S&P says that it may downgrade the Greek sovereign debt rating by the end of March.
The eurozone economic sentiment indicator fell to 95.9 in February from 96 in January after ten months of uninterrupted increases, results of a survey conducted by the European Commission showed Thursday.
Meanwhile, German unemployment increased for the second month in February.
Versus the sterling, the buck surged to a new 9-month high of 1.5158.
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