The dollar is up slightly against its major European rivals Thursday afternoon, after the European Central Bank left rates unchanged. However, the buck is losing ground against the Japanese Yen amid media reports that the Bank of Japan may hold off implementing additional easing measures at its meeting next week.
Some BoJ officials are of the opinion that delay in attaining the BoJ's inflationary goal wouldn't warrant immediate easing, as a tighter labor market eventually boost wages and feed into consumer prices, Reuters news agency reported.
Although the BoJ is likely to downgrade its assessment that underlying trend inflation is "improving steadily next week, there's no consensus among the policy makers on whether that warrants prompt action, it reported.
The dollar has dropped to around Y105.825 against the Japanese Yen this afternoon, from an early high of Y107.491.
Japan's all industry activity dropped for the first time in three months in May, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry reported Thursday. The all industry activity index slid 1 percent month-on-month in May, reversing a 0.8 percent rise in April. This was the first increase in three months but slightly slower than the expected drop of 1.1 percent.
The European Central Bank left its key interest rates unchanged in its first policy session after "Brexit", as euro area policymakers wait for more data to assess the exact depth of the impact of the historic event. The bank maintained interest rates for a third straight policy session.
The 25-member Governing Council, led by ECB President Mario Draghi, left the benchmark interest rate - the refi, unchanged at a record low zero percent, after the policy session in Frankfurt.
The Governing Council continues to expect the key ECB interest rates to remain at present or lower levels for an extended period of time, and well past the horizon of the net asset purchases, the bank said in a statement.
Further, the bank confirmed that the monthly asset purchases of EUR 80 billion are intended to run until the end of March 2017, or beyond, if necessary, and in any case until it sees a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation consistent with its inflation aim.
The central bank stands ready to act on studying data in coming months, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said Thursday.
The Governing Council will monitor economic and financial market developments very closely and aim to safeguard the pass-through of its accommodative monetary policy to the real economy, Draghi said in the introductory statement in his post-decision press conference in Frankfurt.
"Following the UK referendum on EU membership, our assessment is that euro area financial markets have weathered the spike in uncertainty and volatility with encouraging resilience," Draghi said.
The buck has rebounded to around $1.1010 against the Euro this afternoon, from an early low of $1.1058.
French manufacturing confidence improved slightly in July, survey results from the statistical office Insee showed Thursday. The manufacturing confidence index rose unexpectedly to 103 in July from 102 in June. It was forecast to fall to 101.
The greenback has climbed to around $1.32 against the pound sterling, from a low of $1.3268 this morning.
British retail sales declined more than expected in June, data from the Office for National Statistics revealed Thursday. Retail sales volume including auto fuel fell 0.9 percent month-on-month in June, offsetting a 0.9 percent rise in May. This was the biggest fall seen so far this year and larger than the expected fall of 0.6 percent.
The U.K. budget deficit narrowed in June, the Office for National Statistics reported Thursday. Public sector net borrowing decreased GBP 2.2 billion from prior year to GBP 7.8 billion in June. It was below the expected level of GBP 9.5 billion.
Initial jobless claims in the U.S. unexpectedly saw a slight drop in the week ended July 16th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday. The report said jobless claims edged down to 253,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 254,000.
The small decline in jobless claims came as a surprise to economists, who had expected claims to climb to 265,000.
Philadelphia-area manufacturing activity unexpectedly contracted in the month of July, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia revealed in a report on Thursday. The Philly Fed said its diffusion index of current activity dropped to a negative 2.9 in July from a positive 4.7 in June, with a negative reading indicating a contraction in regional manufacturing activity.
The notable decrease by the Philly Fed Index came as a surprise to economists, who had expected the index to inch up to a positive 5.0.
Reflecting a greater share of sales to first-time buyers, the National Association of Realtors released a report on Thursday showing an unexpected increase in U.S. existing home sales in the month of June. NAR said existing home sales climbed 1.1 percent to an annual rate of 5.57 million in June from a downwardly revised 5.51 million in May.
Economists had expected existing home sales to dip to 5.48 million from the 5.53 million originally reported for the previous month.
After reporting an unexpected decline in the previous month, the Conference Board released a report on Thursday showing a rebound by its index of leading U.S. economic indicators in the month of June. The Conference Board said its leading economic index rose by 0.3 percent in June after edging down by 0.2 percent in May. The increase by the index matched economist estimates.
