Dollar Gains Against Major Counterparts On Strong GDP Data

(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar turned in a slightly volatile performance on Thursday as traders digested the latest batch of economic data, including a report on the nation's second-quarter GDP growth.

A report released by the Commerce Department showed real gross domestic product in the U.S. surged by 2.8% in the second quarter after jumping by 1.4% in the first quarter. Economists had expected GDP to increase by 2%.

The Commerce Department said the GDP growth primarily reflected increases in consumer spending, private inventory investment, and nonresidential fixed investment.

Compared to the first quarter, the acceleration in real GDP in the second quarter primarily reflected an upturn in private inventory investment and an acceleration in consumer spending, the Commerce Department said.

On the inflation front, the report said the personal consumption expenditures price index increased 2.6% in the second quarter compared with an increase of 3.4% in the first quarter.

Excluding food and energy prices, the PCE price index increased 2.9% in the second quarter compared with an increase of 3.7% in the first quarter.

A separate data from the Commerce Department said durable goods orders plunged by 6.6% in June after inching up 0.1% in May. Economists had expected durable goods orders to rise by 0.3%.

A report from the Labor Department showed initial jobless claims fell to 235,000 in the week ended July 20th, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week's revised level of 245,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 238,000 from the 243,000 originally reported for the previous week.

The dollar index, which dropped to 104.08 in the Asian session, climbed to 104.46 around mid morning, and despite easing to 104.18 later on, recovered to 104.40 subsequently, netting a small gain.

Against the Euro, the dollar was down slightly at 1.0846, recovering from 1.0872. Against Pound Sterling, it strengthened to 1.2852, gaining nearly 0.5%.

The dollar gained marginally against the Japanese currency, fetching 153.99 yen a unit. Against the Aussie, the dollar firmed to 0.6536 from 0.6582.

The Swiss franc strengthened to 0.8815 a unit of greenback from 0.8852. The Loonie eased to 1.3827 a unit of the U.S. currency after briefly firming to 1.3798 from a low of 1.3851.