FOREX-Dollar falls as US data fails to impress
By Gertrude Chavez
NEW YORK, Nov 13 (Reuters) - The dollar retreated broadly on Thursday as weaker U.S. jobless claims and a moderately disappointing trade deficit number felled doubts about the quality of economic recovery in the United States.
The dollar dropped in a third straight day of dollar selling, fed by a host of other arguments as well, which were damaging investors' appetite for the greenback.
In early New York trading, the euro rose around 0.8 percent against the dollar to $1.1726 <EUR=>, the highest level since late October. It climbed against the yen as well to 126.92 <EURJPY=>.
The dollar fell to 108.21 yen <JPY=>, down 0.55 percent on the day. Against the Swiss franc, the traditional safe-haven currency, the dollar was down 0.8 percent on the day at 1.3388 francs <CHF=>, its lowest in 10 days. Sterling rose 0.9 percent against the dollar to $1.6885 <GBP=>.
The U.S. trade deficit widened in September to $41.3 billion, as the strengthening U.S. economy propelled imports from China and the rest of the world to record levels. The trade shortfall was slightly higher than the consensus forecast of $40.5 billion.
This puts further stress on the United States' need to attract investment to plug the gap, and traders said this was one reason investors unwound long dollar positions built up in the past two weeks.
"It (the trade deficit) is a number that reflects stronger growth in the third quarter. This may be an indicator that continued growth in the U.S. will continue to stimulate the economy and widen the (current account) deficit, a negative effect for the dollar," said Michael Woolfolk, senior currency analyst, at Bank of New York.
First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose to 366,000 in the week ended Nov. 8 from a revised 353,000 the previous week. Market expectations were for a rise to 360,000.
The dollar's sluggish performance in the last few sessions has raised questions again about the pace of the U.S. recovery, analysts said.
"More and more people are questioning the quality of the recovery, having been led by extraordinarily low interest rates and refinancings in the mortgage market. I think the recovery is not as broad-based and stable as many think it is," said John McCarthy, director of foreign exchange at ING Capital Markets LLC in New York.
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