Forex Pros – The U.S. dollar was mixed against most of its major counterparts on Thursday amid thin trade volume leading up to the Christmas break, as markets awaited the release of key U.S. data on jobless claims, durable goods orders and personal spending. During European morning trade, the greenback was up against the euro, with EUR/USD shedding 0.06% to hit 1.3091. Earlier in the day, ratings agency Fitch downgraded Hungary’s debt and signaled it may cut the rating to junk. The ratings agency said that a lack of a coherent medium-term fiscal strategy undermined confidence in the country’s sustainability of public finances. But the greenback was down against the pound, with GBP/USD climbing 0.26% to hit 1.5425. In an interview published in the Daily Telegraph on Thursday, Bank of England Markets Director Paul Fisher said that he expected U.K. interest rates to rise “to a normalized position” of about 5%, while adding that the possibility of an increase in quantitative easing by the central bank was less than what it was a year ago, “but it’s still not ruled out.” Elsewhere, the U.S. dollar was down against the yen, but up against the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY sliding 0.47% to hit 83.18, while USD/CHF surged 0.80% to hit 0.9598. Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar was up against its Canadian counterpart, with USD/CAD gaining 0.22% to hit 1.0156. Later in the day, Canada was to publish a report on GDP growth for October. Elsewhere, the greenback was down against its Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with AUD/USD jumping 0.35 to hit 1.0025 and NZD/USD rallying 0.68% to hit 0.7453. Earlier in the day, official data showed that New Zealand’s economy unexpectedly contracted in the third quarter, but the country’s Finance Minister Bill English said, “The recovery remains on track. I am quite confident the economy will build momentum in 2011 and beyond.” The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was relatively unchanged, shedding 0.01%. Later in the day, the U.S. was to release a flurry of data, with an official report on initial jobless claims, as well as data on personal spending, durable goods orders and new home sales. The country was also to publish revised data on consumer sentiment and inflation expectations as well as a report on natural gas inventories.

Source