By Nick Godt
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The dollar firmed slightly against major counterparts on Tuesday, after the Labor Department said second-quarter productivity jumped 6.4% and unit labor costs fell 5.8%. The dollar index (DXY 79.11, -0.15, -0.19%) , which measures the U.S. unit against a basket of six major currencies, stood at 79.260, up from 79.190 ahead of the data, but still down from 79.365 in late trade Monday. The rise in productivity was the fastest in the nonfarm business sector in nearly six years. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch were looking for a gain of 5.4%. Unit labor costs -a key indicator of inflationary pressures - plunged at a 5.8% rate, the largest decline in nine years and a slightly larger drop that the 5.3% decline expected by economists.
