2021.07.0121:00:00UTC+00Dollar Stays Firm Against Peers Ahead Of Jobs Data

After edging higher in the Asian session, the U.S. dollar turned a bit easy Thursday morning, but climbed up against most of its major rivals later on in the day, lifted by strong economic data.

The greenback rose amid expectations that the Federal Reserve will start tapering its asset buying program sooner than later, and possibly hike interest rates next year.

The Labor Department's closely watched monthly employment report is due out on Friday. Economists currently expect the report to show employment jumped by 690,000 jobs in June after surging up by 559,000 jobs in May. The unemployment rate is expected to dip to 5.7% from 5.8%.

Data released by the Labor Department today showed initial jobless claims slid to 364,000 in the week ended June 26th, a decrease of 51,000 from the previous week's revised level of 415,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 393,000 from the 411,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Meanwhile, a separate report released by the Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing PMI slipped to 60.6 in June from 61.2 in May. Economists had expected the index to edge down to 61.0.

The dollar index, which dropped to 92.26 a little before the release of the jobless claims data, moved past the flat line by mid morning and was last seen at 92.57, up 0.14% from the previous close.

Against the Euro, the dollar firmed to $1.1848 from $1.886 it had touched in the European session. The unemployment rate in the euro area fell to 7.9% in May from 8.1% in the previous month, data from Eurostat showed.

The euro area manufacturing sector grew at a fresh survey record pace for a fourth successive month in June as demand surged with the further relaxation of containment measures, final data from IHS Markit showed.

The final manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 63.4 in June from 63.1 in May. The final reading was higher than the flash 63.1.

The Pound Sterling weakened to $1.3756, giving up more than 0.5%. The UK manufacturing sector logged a strong growth in June but the pace of expansion moderated from a record high, final survey results from IHS Markit showed.

Against the Yen, the dollar strengthened to 111.57, rising more than 0.4% from Wednesday's close.

The dollar was stronger by about 0.4% against the Aussie at 0.7468 a unit of the Australian currency, compared with previous close of 0.7498.

The Swiss franc declined marginally to 0.9256 against the dollar. Switzerland's consumer price inflation remained stable in June, growing 0.6% year-on-year, same as seen in May. Economists had expected inflation to rise 0.7%. The core CPI rose 0.3% yearly in June and remained unchanged from the previous month.

The Loonie weakened to C$1.2437 from C$1.2398, losing about 0.3%.