U.S. Dollar Extends Slide As Weekly Jobless Claims Climb More Than Forecast

The U.S. dollar extended its early weakness against its key counterparts in European trading on Thursday, after data showed that first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose more than expected in the week ended January 30th.

Data from the Labor Department showed that initial jobless claims climbed to 285,000, an increase of 8,000 from the previous week's revised level of 277,000.

Economist had expected jobless claims to inch up to 280,000 from the 278,000 originally reported for the previous week.

The greenback fell to a 2-week low of 116.92 against the yen and more than a 3-week low of 0.9942 against the franc, down from its early highs of 118.24 and 1.0074, respectively.

The greenback declined to 1.1239 against the euro, its weakest since October 22, 2015, while touching more than 4-week lows of 1.4668 against the pound, 0.6748 against the kiwi and 0.7241 against the aussie.

The greenback is likely to find support around 115.00 against the yen, 0.98 against the franc, 1.15 against the euro, 1.48 against the pound, 0.69 against the kiwi and 0.74 against the aussie.