USD weaker on data

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The US dollar saw declines Thursday on new data from the Labor Department and the Commerce department which showed unemployment up last week and durable-goods orders down for the sixth consecutive month in January.

A Commerce Department report showed that durable-goods orders to manufacturers dropped 5.2 percent in January, more of a decline than had been anticipated.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said that 667,000 individuals filed first-time jobless claims last week, up 36,000 from the previous week, with New Jersey providing the biggest rise in new claims while the number of new claims in California dropped by 16,550 during the week.

The number of individuals receiving continuing unemployment claims was up to 5.1 million in the US week before last according to the report, the fifth week in a row that continuing claims reached a new record high.

With 1.4 million individuals receiving special, extended unemployment compensation, that brought the total number of individuals receiving jobless benefits to approximately 6.5 million.

In late morning trade in New York, the greenback traded at $1.2763 to the euro and at $1.4372 to the pound, while it took ¥98.385 to buy a dollar.

The Canadian dollar was at C$1.2433 to the US currency, while the yen was lower versus the euro to trade at ¥125.5712 to t he shared currency.