Dollar Exhibits Weakness Against Major Counterparts

(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar turned in a weak performance on Thursday as the yield on U.S. 10-year Treasury note came off near 5% level.

After comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at an Economic Club of New York luncheon, the dollar recovered a bit, but still stayed well below the flat line.

Powell said that the economy's strength and tight labor markets could warrant rate increases. He said inflation is "still too high" and warned additional monetary policy tightening may be needed.

Powell described the current stance of monetary policy as "restrictive" and reiterated Fed officials are willing to keeping policy restrictive until they are confident inflation is on a downward path.

In economic releases, data from the Labor Department showed initial jobless claims fell to 198,000 in the week ended October 14th, down 13,000 from the previous week's revised level of 211,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 212,000 from the 209,00 originally reported for the previous week.

A report released by the National Association of Realtors on Thursday showed a notable decrease in U.S. existing home sales in the month of September. Existing home sales decreased for the fourth consecutive month, falling to their lowest level since October 2010.

A reading on leading U.S. economic indicators fell by more than expected in the month of September, according to a report released by the Conference Board on Thursday. The Conference Board said its leading economic index slid by 0.7% in September after falling by a revised 0.5% in August.

The dollar index, which fell to a low of 105.98, recovered to 106.24, down 0.3% from the previous close.

Against the Euro, the dollar weakened to 1.0582 from 1.0539. Against Pound Sterling, the dollar is flat at 1.2140, after having weakened to 1.2192 earlier.

The dollar is down against the Japanese currency, fetching 149.81 a unit, and against the Aussie, it is trading at 0.6328, gaining marginally.

The Swiss franc has firmed to 0.8915 a dollar, gaining from 0.8989. Against the Loonie, the dollar is up marginally at C$1.3723, recovering from C$1.3680.