US Dollar Firms on Jobless Claims Data

The U.S. Dollar was trading near to a 4-year peak versus the Japanese yen following unexpectedly strong jobless claims data eased investors’ concerns over the global economic slowdown. According to the data from the U.S. Department of Labor, only 331,000 new claims for unemployment benefits were placed in the week ended April 19th against expectations of a slight decline of 351,000 from the previous week’s 355,000 new claims.

As reported at 10:45 a.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the USD/JPY pair was trading higher at 99.35 Yen, once again flirting with the 100.00 Yen level, and moving away from the low struck just ahead of the labor data when the pair was trading below 99 Yen. Against the Japanese currency and since the beginning of the year, the U.S. Dollar has appreciated more than 14%. Currency analysts expect that there will be more gains expected ahead as the respective central banks enact their monetary policies with the Bank of Japan moving full steam ahead with a great deal more easing and the Federal Reserve easing back on the throttle. While the pair has been held to a tight trading band, investors will look ahead to today’s monetary policy meeting at the Bank of Japan and release of GDP figures from the U.S.