Investing.com - The dollar firmed against most major currencies on Thursday after a better-than-expected U.S. growth report and a Federal Reserve decision to close its bond-buying program fueled expectations for rate hikes some time in 2015.
In U.S. trading on Thursday, EUR/USD was down 0.15% at 1.2614.
The Commerce Department reported earlier that the U.S. gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 3.5% in the three months to September, beating forecast for 3% growth, which fueled demand for the greenback on expectations that the Federal Reserve remains set to hike interest rates in 2015.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve said it was ending its monthly bond-buying program due to improvements taking place in the labor market, which continued to firm the dollar on Thursday.
Still, the dollar didn't soar on Thursday, as the GDP report revealed that consumer spending slowed to 1.8% from 2.5% in the second quarter, and fixed investment spending also declined from the previous quarter, pointing to slackening domestic demand.
Elsewhere, the Labor Department reported earlier that the number of individuals filing new claims for jobless benefits rose by 3,000 to 287,000, confounding market forecasts for a decline to 283,000.
Meanwhile in the euro zone, preliminary data on Thursday revealed that German inflation was unchanged at 0.7% in October from a month earlier, the lowest level since May.
Separately, the number of people unemployed in Germany fell by 22,000 this month, compared to expectations for a gain of 5,000. The country’s unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.7%.
The dollar was up against the yen, with USD/JPY up 0.37% at 109.30, and up against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF up 0.11% at 0.9558.
The greenback was up against the pound, with GBP/USD down 0.02% at 1.6006.
The dollar was mixed against its cousins in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with USD/CAD up 0.03% at 1.1191, AUD/USD up 0.40% at 0.8831 and NZD/USD up 0.53% at 0.7843.
The kiwi recovered after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand left rates unchanged at 3.5% and said “a period of assessment remains appropriate before considering further policy adjustment."
The bank had said previously that it expected some further monetary tightening would be necessary.
The US dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.16% at 86.22.
On Friday, the U.S. is to round up the week with data on personal income and expenditure as well as revised data on consumer sentiment and a report on business activity in the Chicago region.