The euro jumped to its highest in three weeks in holiday-thinned Asian trade on Friday, but was on track for a losing year on expectations that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's policies will boost inflation and prompt the U.S. Federal Reserve to hike interest rates at a faster pace.
The euro was last up 0.8 percent at $1.0570 EUR= after briefly spiking to $1.0700, its highest since Dec. 8. On the last trading day of 2016, it was down 2.6 percent against the dollar for the year.
The dollar slipped 0.1 percent to 116.43 yen JPY= after earlier touching 116.05, its lowest since Dec. 14. The yen lost 3.3 percent for the year, but considerably pared its losses after the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election.
A drop in U.S. exports last month pushed the country's trade deficit in goods higher while the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell last week in a positive sign for the labor market.
In an initial estimate that does not include trade in services, the Commerce Department said the country exported $1.2 billion less in November than in October. Imports rose by $2.2 billion during the month. The full trade report for November is due on Jan. 6.
In the week ending December 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 265,000, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 275,000. The 4-week moving average was 263,000, a decrease of 750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 263,750.
There were no special factors impacting this week's initial claims. This marks 95 consecutive weeks of initial claims below 300,000, the longest streak since 1970.
Oil futures dipped on Thursday after a surprise build in U.S. crude inventories reversed an advance in prices that had boosted the benchmarks to their highest levels since July last year.
U.S. crude stocks unexpectedly rose for the second straight week, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed, gaining 614,000 barrels last week versus analysts' forecasts of a decline of 2.1 million barrels.
U.S. crude futures settled 29 cents, or 0.5 percent, lower at $53.77 a barrel while Brent crude fell 8 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $56.14 a barrel.
Oil prices will gradually rise toward $60 per barrel by the end of 2017, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday.
Reference: Dol.gov, Reuters, CNBC
Thai
Eng