2010.08.1913:42:00UTC+00US Dollar Recovers From Early Losses Against Major Rivals

The US dollar recovered from early losses against major opponents in New York mid-day trading on Wednesday.

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.

The US dollar that touched a fresh multi-month low of 1.0260 against the Swiss franc at about 10:35 am ET, reversed its direction thereafter. As of now, the pair is worth 1.0325.

After touching an 8-day low of 84.91 by about 10:00 am ET, the greenback edged up against its Japanese counterpart and currently trading near 85.35.

The US currency also showed strength against the euro and the British pound from early morning session's lows of 1.2904 and 1.5674, respectively.

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