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The U.S. dollar turned weak against most of its major counterparts on Thursday, after having rebounded in the previous session and regained some ground it had lost earlier in the week.
The dollar index, which had climbed to a two-decade high at 105.01 on Friday, dropped to 102.66 today before recovering slightly to 102.84, still down nearly 1% from the previous close.
Against the Euro, the dollar has weakened to $1.0587 from $1.0465. The Pound Sterling has firmed against the dollar, fetching $1.2480 a unit, compared with $1.2344 on Wednesday.
The dollar has weakened against the Japanese currency, fetching 127.77 yen, nearly 0.4% less than yesterday's close of 128.23 yen.
Data from the Labor Department showed initial jobless claims rose to 218,000 in the week ended May 14th, an increase of 21,000 from the previous week's revised level of 197,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 200,000 from the 203,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Growth in Philadelphia-area manufacturing activity showed a significant slowdown in the month of May, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia revealed in a report on Thursday.
The Philly Fed said its current general activity index tumbled to 2.6 in May from 17.6 in April, hitting its lowest level in two years.
A report released by the National Association of Realtors showed existing home sales showed a significant decrease in the month of April, tumbling by 2.4% to an annual rate of 5.61 million in April after plunging by 3% to a revised rate of 5.75 million in March. Economists had expected existing home sales to decrease by 0.7%.
