Dollar Rises Against Major Counterparts Amid Tariff War

(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar climbed higher against its major counterparts on Thursday with rising worries about the impact of the tariff war between the U.S. and some major trading partners pushed up the demand for the safe-haven currency.

After the European Union said it would impose tariffs on approximately $28 billion worth of U.S. goods in response to U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, U.S. President Donald Trump warned that he would react with reciprocal tariffs.

Trump later threatened in a post on Truth Social to impose a 200% tariff on all wines, champagnes and alcoholic products coming out of the EU in response to a "nasty" 50% tariff on whisky.

In economic news, a report released by the Labor Department showed initial jobless claims edged down to 220,000 in the week ended March 8th, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week's revised level of 222,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 225,000 from the 221,000 originally reported for the previous week.

A separate report from the Labor Department said producer prices in the U.S. were unexpectedly flat in the month of February.

The report said the producer price index for final demand was unchanged in February after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.6% in January.

Economists had expected producer prices to rise by 0.3% compared to the 0.4% growth originally reported for the previous month.

The report also said the annual rate of growth by producer prices slowed to 3.2% in February from an upwardly revised 3.7% in January.

The annual rate of producer price growth was expected to dip to 3.3% from the 3.5% originally reported for the previous month.

The dollar index climbed to 104.08 in the New York session, and despite paring some gains as the day progressed, was up nearly 0.25% at 103.86 a little while ago.

Against the Euro, the dollar firmed to 1.0855 from 1.0889. The dollar strengthened to 1.2955 against Pound Sterling.

The dollar weakened against the Japanese currency, easing to 147.82 yen a unit. Against the Aussie, the dollar firmed to 0.6283.

The dollar pared its gains against Swiss franc, easing from CHF 0.8855 to CHF 0.8820, up just marginally from previous close. Against the Loonie, the dollar strengthened against the Loonie, advancing to 1.4441.