The dollar held less than a cent above its recent record lows versus the euro on Thursday as concerns about U.S. economic imbalances outweighed a run of evidence the world's biggest economy was on the road to a strong recovery.
Data releases on Wednesday showed weekly unemployment claims at their lowest level in nearly three years and a surprisingly strong jump in durable goods orders.
This followed news earlier in the week that the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 8.2 percent in the third quarter, its fastest rise in almost 20 years.
But the data offered little help in turning around the dollar's already sour sentiment as concerns lingered about the U.S. current account deficit, trade disputes and possible terror attacks with trade subdued by the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.
"We have already seen a peak in U.S. growth and the rest of the world is catching up. The spread between U.S. and non-U.S. growth will narrow next year," said Shahab Jalinoos, senior currency strategist at ABN Amro in London.
"The U.S. is struggling to finance its deficit and the underlying flow picture is poor. Persistent concerns of terror attacks and trade disputes mean investors are not willing to hold dollars over (because of) risk premium."
At 7:30 a.m. EST, the dollar traded at $1.1906 per euro, compared with $1.1941 in late New York on Wednesday, having fallen to the record low around $1.1975 set last week.
The dollar was also up on the yen at 109.14 and the Swiss franc, regaining some ground lost on Wednesday.
GROWING BUT IMBALANCED ECONOMY
Analysts said Wednesday's poor showing at an auction of two-year Treasury notes underlined concerns about the U.S. current account deficit.
The auction drew bids for 1.75 times the amount on offer, well below the 2.12 achieved at the last sale, which analysts said could be a sign of falling demand from foreign bidders, particularly central banks.
The United States needs foreign investment inflows to counterbalance the current account deficit to prevent the dollar from falling.
"The market is obsessed with structural negative factors, meaning the deterioration in the external deficit, and is ignoring positive cyclical factors," said Mitul Kotecha, head of global foreign exchange research at Credit Agricole Indosuez.
"The U.S. has been consistently delivering positive economic surprises but no improvement in the current account deficit."
Markets remained on alert for possible terror attacks over the Thanksgiving holiday.
Italy's Baghdad embassy was attacked late on Wednesday, two weeks after 19 Italians died in a suicide blast in southern Iraq. Also this month, more than 50 people died in suicide bombings in Turkey.
Data releases on Wednesday showed weekly unemployment claims at their lowest level in nearly three years and a surprisingly strong jump in durable goods orders.
This followed news earlier in the week that the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 8.2 percent in the third quarter, its fastest rise in almost 20 years.
But the data offered little help in turning around the dollar's already sour sentiment as concerns lingered about the U.S. current account deficit, trade disputes and possible terror attacks with trade subdued by the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.
"We have already seen a peak in U.S. growth and the rest of the world is catching up. The spread between U.S. and non-U.S. growth will narrow next year," said Shahab Jalinoos, senior currency strategist at ABN Amro in London.
"The U.S. is struggling to finance its deficit and the underlying flow picture is poor. Persistent concerns of terror attacks and trade disputes mean investors are not willing to hold dollars over (because of) risk premium."
At 7:30 a.m. EST, the dollar traded at $1.1906 per euro, compared with $1.1941 in late New York on Wednesday, having fallen to the record low around $1.1975 set last week.
The dollar was also up on the yen at 109.14 and the Swiss franc, regaining some ground lost on Wednesday.
GROWING BUT IMBALANCED ECONOMY
Analysts said Wednesday's poor showing at an auction of two-year Treasury notes underlined concerns about the U.S. current account deficit.
The auction drew bids for 1.75 times the amount on offer, well below the 2.12 achieved at the last sale, which analysts said could be a sign of falling demand from foreign bidders, particularly central banks.
The United States needs foreign investment inflows to counterbalance the current account deficit to prevent the dollar from falling.
"The market is obsessed with structural negative factors, meaning the deterioration in the external deficit, and is ignoring positive cyclical factors," said Mitul Kotecha, head of global foreign exchange research at Credit Agricole Indosuez.
"The U.S. has been consistently delivering positive economic surprises but no improvement in the current account deficit."
Markets remained on alert for possible terror attacks over the Thanksgiving holiday.
Italy's Baghdad embassy was attacked late on Wednesday, two weeks after 19 Italians died in a suicide blast in southern Iraq. Also this month, more than 50 people died in suicide bombings in Turkey.
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