Investing.com - The dollar moved higher against other major currencies on Thursday, as the release of upbeat data added to optimism over the strength of the economy, while investors eyed a number of speeches by Federal Reserve officials scheduled later in the day.
The greenback found support after the U.S. Department of Labor said initial jobless claims fell more than expected to 260,000 last week.
A separate report showed that the U.S. trade deficit narrowed in August and that exports climbed to a two-and-a-half year high.
Market participants were looking ahead to speeches by Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell, New York Fed President William Dudley, Dallas Fed chief Robert Kaplan and Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, scheduled later Thursday.
Jerome Powell has been in the spotlight recently, as he and former governor Kevin Warsh were both interviewed at the White House last week to replace current Fed Chair Janet Yellen next February.
The two men are seen as serious candidates, but Powell is considered as more dovish than Warsh, who has criticised the Fed's bond-buying programme in the past.
EUR/USD slid 0.30% to 1.1727, while GBP/USD declined 0.78% to trade at 1.3139.
Sentiment on the euro remained fragile after the regional government of Catalonia announced on Wednesday that they will declare independence from Spain on Monday, adding to tensions in the region.
Elsewhere, USD/JPY fell 0.27% to 112.45, while USD/CHF added 0.19% to trade at 0.9770.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars remained weaker, with AUD/USD down 0.64% at 0.7813. while NZD/USD slumped 0.35% to 0.7143.
Earlier Thursday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that retail sales declined 0.6% in August, confounding expectations for a 0.3% rise.
On a more positive note, another report showed that Australia's trade surplus widened to A$989,000 in August from a revised surplus of A$808,000 the previous month. Analysts had expected the trade surplus to widen to only A$875,000 in August.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD gained 0.42% to trade at 1.2531, re-approaching Tuesday's one-month peak of 1.2540 after Statistics Canada said the country's trade deficit widened to C$3.41 billion in August from C$2.98 billion the previous month.
Analysts had expected the trade deficit to narrow to C$2.60 billion in August.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.25% at 93.55 by 08:50 a.m. ET (12:50 GMT), not far from Tuesday's one-and-a-half month high of 93.78.