2021.10.2120:44:00UTC+00Dollar Gains Against Major Counterparts

The U.S. dollar firmed against most of its major rivals on Thursday, rebounding from recent losses, as concerns about inflation and supply chain disruptions pushed up the demand for the safe haven currency.

Data showing an unexpected drop in U.S. jobless claims in the week ended October 16th, and a report showing a bigger than expected increase in existing home sales supported the dollar.

Data released by the Labor Department showed initial jobless claims unexpectedly slipped to 290,000 in the week ended October 16th, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised level of 296,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 300,000 from the 293,000 originally reported for the previous week.

With the unexpected dip, jobless claims once again fell to their lowest level since hitting 256,000 in the week ended March 14, 2020.

The National Association of Realtors released a separate report showing existing home sales rebounded by much more than expected in the month of September.

NAR said existing home sales spiked by 7% to an annual rate of 6.29 million in September after slumping by 2% to a rate of 5.88 million in August. Economists had expected existing home sales to jump by 3.6% to a rate of 6.09 million.

Existing home sales reached their highest annual rate since January but were still down by 2.3% compared to the same month a year ago.

The dollar index climbed to 93.79, gaining about 0.25%.

Against the Euro, the dollar firmed to 1.1621 from 1.1651.

The dollar strengthened to 1.3789 against Pound Sterling, gaining from 1.3825.

The Yen firmed to 114.05 a dollar, advancing from 114.32.

Against the Aussie, the dollar strengthened to 0.7463 from 0.7515.

The Swiss franc is little changed at 0.9185 a dollar. The Loonie weakened to 1.2373 a dollar, losing ground from 1.2320.