The US dollar is trading sideways on Thursday as investors comb through the recent data. The greenback has been trading at multi-week highs in recent trading sessions, looking to maintain the momentum from 2018 when it advanced about 5% on the year.
According to the Department of Labor, the number of US workers applying for unemployment benefits through state programs slipped by 13,000 to 199,000 in the week ending January 19. The last time this figure fell below 200,000 was in November 1969.
This comes as thousands of new claims spiked for furloughed federal government workers. The Labor Department reported that the number of federal employees who applied for benefits climbed to 25,419, up from 10,454 in the first week of January. These civil servants file jobless benefits through a separate federal program.
In other data, manufacturing activity surged at its fastest pace since May 2018. This was driven by new orders, higher stocks of purchases, and rising employment. Earlier this week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released data that found the manufacturing sector created 284,000 jobs in 2018, a 21-year high, buoyed by higher manufacturing output.
The positive manufacturing numbers were offset by flat business growth in the services sector as growth was the weakest since June 2017.
The Leading Economic Index (LEI) declined 0.1% in December to 111.7, a signal that the US economy may be slowing down. In two of the final three months of last year, the US LEI tumbled, suggesting that growth rates may be sluggish this year. It should be noted that the effects of the partial government shutdown are not reflected in the index.
Because of the shutdown that delays official government data, index authors had to use estimates for building permits and new orders for consumer goods.
The USD/CAD currency pair dipped 0.03% to 1.3339, from an opening of 1.3345, at 14:22 GMT on Thursday. The EUR/CAD slid 0.13% to 1.5165, from an opening of 1.5186.
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