(RTTNews) - Thursday during early deals, the US dollar edged up against its European, Swiss and Japanese counterparts ahead of various economic reports, which are due in the upcoming North American session. Elsewhere, the US currency pared its Asian session gains against the pound.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis is due to release its personal income & outlays report for August. Economists estimate the report, which is due out at 8:30 am ET, to show that personal income rose 0.1% and the personal spending increased 1.1% in the month.
At the same time, the Labor Department is due to release its customary weekly jobless claims report for the week ended September 26th. Economists estimate claims to have fallen to 535,000 in the week.
The results of the manufacturing survey of the Institute for Supply Management, are due out at 10 am ET. Economists expect the index to show a reading of 54 for September.
The Commerce Department's construction spending report to be released at 10 am ET is expected to show a 0.2% decline in spending for August.
Data on Pending Home Sales, is due out at 10 am ET. The index is expected to rise 1% in August.
The US dollar advanced to 1.0435 against the franc and a 2-day high of 1.4552 against the euro during Thursday's early European deals, with 1.049 and 1.446 seen as the next upside target levels. The dollar-franc pair closed yesterday's deals at 1.0364 and euro-dollar pair at 1.4642.
On the economic front, the Eurostat said the seasonally adjusted jobless rate for the Eurozone inched up to 9.6% in August from 9.5% in July. That was the highest rate since March 1999. It also matched economists' expectations. A year ago, the rate of unemployment was 7.6% in August.
There were 15.165 million people out of work in the euro area in August. The jobless rate for EU27 stood at 9.1% in August, up from 9% in July. That was the highest rate since March 2004.
From Switzerland, data released by Credit Suisse said today that the Swiss SVME purchasing managers' index or PMI rose for the seventh month in September, suggesting growth in the private sector output,.
The PMI climbed to 54.3 in September from 50.2 in August. Economists had forecast a reading of 51. The PMI has remained above the 50-point growth threshold for two successive months. The index last exceeded this level in June 2008, before Switzerland slipped into recession.
The US currency edged up against its Japanese counterpart during Thursday's early trading. At about 2:50 am ET, the dollar-yen pair hit as high as 90.18, which may be compared to Wednesday's close of 89.72. The dollar may likely find resistance near the 91.3 level, if it moves up further.
