- Dollar pauses as Treasury yields rise halts
- Jobless claims, home sales data disappoints
- Cryptocurrencies jump
(Updates prices, adds U.S. economic data; changes dateline, previous LONDON)
The dollar pared earlier gains on Thursday as this week's upward trajectory of in U.S. Treasury yields took a breather.
The greenback edged lower after weekly applications for unemployment insurance unexpectedly jumped to a three-month high.
A separate report showed that sales of pre-owned U.S. homes dropped by 4.6% in December, more than analysts anticipated.
"The dollar's been soft this year," said Marc Chandler, chief market strategist at Bannockburn Forex in New York. "The U.S. economy is facing big headwinds, which is why I’m not nearly as progressive as other people are on the Fed."
"There’s so much tightening coming, and the economy seems to me a bit more vulnerable than many people expected," Chandler added. "This means the dollar is going to have a tougher second half of the year than first half."
U.S. benchmark 10-year note yields US10YT=RR were at 1.8308%, off their two-year high of 1.902% reached on Wednesday.
The advance was driven by market expectations that the U.S. Federal reserve will tighten monetary policy at a faster pace than previously anticipated. Fed funds futures
0#FF: have fully priced in a rate hike in March and a total of four in 2022."The big focus is next week’s FOMC meeting and the market will probably be cautious ahead of the weekend, and that’s because of the geopolitical uncertainty at the Ukrainian border," Chandler said, referring to the Federal Open Market Committee.
The Euro EUR=EBS was last at $1.1311, below an earlier high of $1.1369.
The pound GBP=D3 was 0.15% higher at $1.3636 and the yen JPY=D3 was nominally lower 114.11 per dollar.
The Aussie AUD=D3 firmed 0.64% to $0.7257, extending advances from the previous day, and the Canadian dollar CAD=D3 pared earlier gains, with one U.S. dollar worth C$1.2483.
The Norwegian crown fell after the central bank voted to keep interest rates on hold at 0.5% and said it was on track for an interest rate hike in March.
The crown was last down nearly 0.2% against both the euro EURNOK=D3 and the dollar NOK=D3 .
Among cryptocurrencies, bitcoin BTC=BTSP was most recently up 3.6% at $43,182, while smaller rival ether ETH=BTSP gained 5.5% at $3,249.
======================================================== Currency bid prices at 10:18AM (1518 GMT)Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid Previous Change Session Dollar index =USD 95.5880 95.6000 +0.00% -0.078% +95.6670 +95.4170 Euro/Dollar EUR=EBS $1.1331 $1.1344 -0.11% -0.33% +$1.1369 +$1.1329 Dollar/Yen JPY=D3 114.1100 114.2100 -0.10% -0.80% +114.5400 +114.0400 Euro/Yen EURJPY= 129.29 129.67 -0.29% -0.79% +130.0800 +129.3100 Dollar/Swiss CHF=EBS 0.9154 0.9156 -0.02% +0.36% +0.9161 +0.9141 Sterling/Dollar GBP=D3 $1.3636 $1.3613 +0.15% +0.81% +$1.3650 +$1.3599 Dollar/Canadian CAD=D3 1.2483 1.2516 -0.27% -1.27% +1.2516 +1.2474 Aussie/Dollar AUD=D3 $0.7257 $0.7211 +0.64% -0.16% +$0.7267 +$0.7207 Euro/Swiss EURCHF= 1.0373 1.0385 -0.12% +0.04% +1.0395 +1.0373 Euro/Sterling EURGBP= 0.8308 0.8332 -0.29% -1.10% +0.8338 +0.8310 NZ NZD=D3 $0.6789 $0.6787 +0.06% -0.78% +$0.6798 +$0.6756 Dollar/DollarDollar/Norway NOK=D3 8.7705 8.7745 -0.16% -0.56% +8.8075 +8.7555 Euro/Norway EURNOK= 9.9410 9.9580 -0.17% -0.72% +9.9881 +9.9333 Dollar/Sweden SEK= 9.1296 9.1118 +0.09% +1.24% +9.1486 +9.0878 Euro/Sweden EURSEK= 10.3451 10.3362 +0.09% +1.09% +10.3731 +10.3257 <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ World FX rates https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
