Investing.com - The euro was slightly lower against the dollar on Thursday following the release of some mixed U.S. economic reports after data earlier in the day showed that euro zone private sector output slowed to its lowest in 16 months.
EUR/USD was down 0.16% to 1.2532, holding above session lows of 1.2504.
Data on Thursday showed that manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia-region expanded at the fastest rate since December 1993 this month.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said that its manufacturing index jumped to 40.8 from 20.7 in October. Economists had expected the index to decline to 18.5.
At the same time, data showed that U.S. sales of previously owned homes rose to a 13-month high in October.
The reports came after the Labor Department reported that the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefit fell by 2,000 last week, to 291,000. Economists had expected a fall to 286,000, but it was the tenth straight week that initial claims remained below 300,000.
The number of continuing claims also fell, to 2.33 million, the lowest level since December 2000.
A separate report showed that the U.S. consumer price index was unchanged in October, compared to expectations for a 0.1% dip.
On a year-over-year basis consumer prices rose 1.7% last month, unchanged from September.
Core inflation, which strips out food and energy costs, rose by 0.2% during the month, pushing the annual rate up to 1.8%.
Demand for the dollar continued to be underpinned after the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting indicated that officials believe the economic recovery is strong enough to withstand external threats to growth, but offered little additional clarity about when rates could start to rise.
Markets are currently expecting the U.S. central bank to start raising rates sometime around September 2015.
The euro remained weaker after data earlier showed that the euro zone’s services purchasing managers’ index fell to 51.3 this month, while the manufacturing PMI slid to 50.4 from 50.6 in October.
Germany private sector activity fell to a 16-month low, while French private sector output contracted for the seventh consecutive month.
The report said the PMI surveys pointed to economic growth of just 0.1% to 0.2% in the current quarter.
The weak data added to gloom over the outlook for the global economy, coming after reports showing that factory activity in China slowed to a six month low in November and Japan fell into recession in the third quarter.
The dollar was flat against the yen, with USD/JPY at 117.93, off the seven year highs of 118.98 struck earlier in the session.
The US dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was unchanged at 87.67, holding below last week’s more than four-year highs of 88.36.