The US dollar spiked up against major opponents after the release of some economic reports during New York mid-morning trading on Thursday. In economic news from the U.S., private sector employment increased for the fourth consecutive month in May, according to a report released by Automatic Data Processing, Inc. today.
The report showed that non-farm private employment increased by 55,000 jobs in May following an upwardly revised increase of 65,000 jobs in April. Economists had expected employment to increase by about 60,000 jobs.
The Labor Department said that initial jobless claims fell by 10,000 to 453,000 for the week, while economists had forecast the figures to come in at 450,000. Continuing claims, a statistic that measures the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment help, edged up to 4.666 million.
In a separate report, the Labor Department said that productivity increased by 2.8 percent in the first quarter compared to its preliminary estimate of 3.6 percent growth. Economists had expected a more modest downward revision to 3.3 percent growth for the quarter.
The Commerce Department said that factory orders increased by 1.2 percent in April following an upwardly revised 1.7 percent increase in March. Economists had expected orders to increase by 1.7 percent.
The Institute for Supply Management said its index of activity in the service sector came in at 55.4 in May, matching the readings seen in both April and March. While a reading above 50 indicates continued growth in the sector, economists had expected the index to edge up to a reading of 55.6.
The dollar traded higher against the euro and the Swiss franc in New York mid-day deals today. As of now, the greenback is trading near 1.2163 versus the euro and 1.1567 versus the franc from previous session’s multi-day lows of 1.2328 an 1.1499, respectively.
After edging down in early European session, the dollar reversed its direction against its British counterpart during today’s mid-day deals. At present, the greenback is worth 1.4590 versus the franc from early low of 1.4745.
The US currency also ticked up against other major currencies in mid-day deals today. The greenback is currently trading at 1.0454 against the Canadian dollar, 0.8378 versus the Australian dollar and 0.6800 versus the NZ dollar form last session’s lows of 1.0336, 0.8524 and 0.6902, respectively.
At the same time, the dollar showed weakness against the Japanese yen in today’s mid-day deals, after hitting a 2-week high of 92.82, by about 7:45 am ET. As of now, the greenback-yen pair is now trading at 92.30.