Dollar Keeping Pressure On Euro, Sterling

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The dollar remained stronger versus other majors Thursday morning in New York, edging closer to the 9-month highs seen earlier in February. With the economic storm clouds in the US apparently lifting, the dollar has seen significant gains over its European counterparts in 2010.

Traders await another round of pivotal economic reports from the US, including data on inflation and weekly jobless claims.

The Labor Department will release the customary weekly jobless claims for the week ended February 6, at 8.30 a.m. ET. Economists see further improvement in the job scenario, with jobless claims expected to dip to 430,000 following sharp drop to 440,000 in the previous week.

The dollar rose to 1.3539 versus the euro overnight, nearing last week's 9-month peak of 1.3531 before leveling off.

Germany's Federal Statistical Office announced that the number of employed persons stood at 40.57 million in the fourth quarter, up from 40.33 million in the previous quarter.

The dollar rose to a weekly high of 1.5574 versus the sterling, coming close to 1.5533, its highest level since last May.

Versus the yen, the dollar held near Y91 after touching a 2-week high of 91.37 yesterday.

On the flip side, the buck continued to struggle versus the loonie, hitting C$1.0440 after the release of Canadian inflation data.

Canadian consumer prices rose 1.9% in the 12 months to January, following a 1.3% increase in December 2009, according to data released by Statistics Canada. January's increase was the largest since November 2008

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said the seasonally adjusted gross domestic product in the OECD area grew 0.8% sequentially in the fourth quarter, faster than the 0.6% expansion in the third quarter.

Real GDP grew strongly in the United States and Japan by 1.4% and 1.1%, respectively. On the other hand, growth in the Euro area slowed to 0.1% in the fourth quarter from 0.4% in the third quarter. German GDP remained flat in the last quarter of 2009, while France expanded 0.6%.

(Market News Provided by RTTNews)