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During New York morning trading on Thursday, the Swiss franc spiked up against major currencies. The franc climbed to new multi-month highs against the US dollar, fresh multi-week highs against the euro, pound and the yen.
Extending previous session uptrend, the franc advanced further against the US dollar in New York morning deals today. At 10:35 am ET, the franc jumped to a new multi-month high of 1.0260 versus the greenback, compared to yesterday's close of 1.0428. Thereafter, the pair reversed its direction and currently worth 1.0324.
In the U.S., the first time claims for unemployment benefits showed another unexpected increase in the week ended August 14th, according to a report released by the Labor Department today.
The report showed that initial jobless claims rose to 500,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 488,000. Economists had been expecting jobless claims to slip to 475,000 from the 484,000 originally reported for the previous week.
At the same time, conference Board's leading indicators index for July increased by less than economists had expected.
The leading indicators index edged up by 0.1 percent in July following a revised 0.3 percent decrease in June. Economists had expected the index to increase by 0.2 percent compared to the 0.2 percent drop originally reported for the previous month.
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve said its diffusion index of current activity fell to a negative 7.7 in August from a positive 5.1 in July, with a negative reading indicating a contraction in manufacturing activity. The steep drop came as a big surprise to economists, who had expected the index to rise to a reading of 7.5.
Against its other major European rivals, the franc traded higher in today's morning session. The Swiss currency surged up to new multi-week highs of 1.6052 against the British pound and 1.3208 versus the euro by about 10:35 am ET, which may be compared to Wednesday's closing values of 6265 and 1.3402, respectively. At present, the franc is worth 1.6112 against the sterling and 1.3223 versus the euro.
U.K.'s seasonally adjusted retail sales volume including automotive fuel rose 1.1% month-on-month in July, following the 0.7% rise in June, the Office for National Statistics said Thursday. Economists had forecast a 0.3% increase.
The Swiss unit also edged up against its Japanese counterpart in New York morning deals and hit a 16-day high of 82.89 as of 10:30 am ET. The franc-yen pair that closed yesterday's New York session at 82.00, is now trading near 82.76.
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