The
U.S. dollar fell slightly against a basket of major
currencies during Thursday's trading, ahead of US unemployment claims figures,
in addition to investor’s hopes that the Covid-19 would retreat from the current
peak.
As
of 08:23 GMT, the U.S dollar index, which measures the performance of six major
currencies against the greenback, traded at 100.09, noting that the lowest
level recording during the session was at 99.99.
Eyes
will focus on US unemployment claims scheduled to be released later in the day,
with expectations of a rise of about five million requests in the week ended
April 4, which will be lower than the previous week’s reading of 6.65 million.
The
awaited weekly jobless claims would give an update about the impact of the
Covid-19 outbreak on the U.S. labor market.
In
the same vein, the Fed said in the minutes of its last meeting that the
interest rate will remain near zero until the end of the Corona crisis,
explaining the negative impact of the virus on the economic outlook.
The
US economic outlook in the near term has deteriorated sharply in recent weeks
and has become largely uncertain, the minutes noted.
Later
in the day, Fed’s Chairman Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak about the
current state of the economy, and the Fed's response to the crisis at the
Hutchins Center in Brookings in an online discussion.
According
to a map from Johns Hopkins University, more than 430,000 people are infected
with the deadly virus in the United States and have claimed nearly 14,800 lives
in the country.
US
Stocks gain
U.S.
stock indexes rose at the close of Wednesday’s trading session, with the Dow
Jones industrial climbing by about 780 points, amid hopes of a slowdown in the
number of corona infections and increased fiscal stimulus.
The Dow Jones
Industrial Average rose 3.4 percent to 23,433 points, the S&P 500 surged
3.4 percent to 2,749 points and the Nasdaq edged up 2.6 percent to 8,090.