Investing.com - The dollar slipped lower against the other majors currencies on Thursday, after the release of mixed U.S. jobless claims and manufacturing activity data.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending October 15 increased by 13,000 to 260,000 from the previous week’s total of 247,000, an upward revision from the initial 246,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 4,000 to 250,000 last week.
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve said its business conditions index came in at 9.7 this month, down from 12.8 in September. Economists had expected a reading of 5.3 this month.
EUR/USD rose 0.28% to 1.1011, off the three-month low off 1.0953 hit overnight, after the European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged at record lows of zero.
The ECB also left its quantitative easing program unchanged at €80 billion per month.
GBP/USD dropped 0.51% to 1.2228. The U.K. Office for National Statistics earlier said that retail sales were flat in September, after a 0.2% decline the previous month and compared to expectations for a 0.4% rise.
Year-on-year, retail sales increased 4.1% last month, disappointing expectations for a 4.8% rise.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales and fuel, were als flat in September, confounding expectations for an increase of 0.4%.
USD/JPY gained 0.27% to 103.76, while USD/CHF slid 0.30% to 0.9861.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were weaker, with AUD/USD down 0.98% at 0.7648 and with NZD/USD slipping 0.19% to 0.7217.
Earlier Thursday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said the number of employed people declined by 9,800 in September, disappointing expectations for an increase of 15,000.
Australia’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.6% last month, compared to expectations for an uptick to 5.7%.
In addition, the National Australia Bank said its business confidence index rose to 5 in the third quarter from 3 in the second quarter, whose figure was revised from an initial reading of 2.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD climbed 0.66% to trade at 1.3200, off Wednesday’s one-month trough of 1.3001.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.15% at 97.72.