Investing.com - The euro gained against the dollar on Thursday after E.U. member nations at a summit earlier called on focusing restoring growth over austerity and meeting deficit targets.
In U.S. trading on Thursday, EUR/USD was up 0.39% at 1.3011, up from a session low of 1.2912 and off from a high of 1.3065.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2886, the low from Dec. 10, and resistance at 1.3074, Tuesday's high.
France at an E.U. summit earlier called for greater budgetary flexibility for member nations to stimulate their economies more and steer the eurozone back towards recovery.
Calls for greater focus on growth and less on austerity lifted the single currency against the U.S. dollar despite solid data hitting the wire in Washington.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported earlier that the number of individuals filing for initial weekly jobless benefits in the week ending March 10 fell by 10,000 to 332,000, defying expectations for an increase of 8,000 to 350,000.
Solid wholesale pricing data in the U.S. boosted spirits as well.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the U.S. producer price index rose 0.7% in February from January, in line with expectations, after rising 0.2% in January from December.
The monthly core producer price index rose 0.2% in February, in line with expectations after rising 0.2% in January.
The numbers fueled already growing expectations for the Federal Reserve to start considering exit strategies for its monetary stimulus programs that weaken the greenback by design to spur recovery, though profit taking kicked in and ended the dollar's rally.
The euro, meanwhile, was down against the pound and up against the yen, with EUR/GBP trading down 0.74% at 0.8622, and EUR/JPY trading up 0.18% at 124.84.
On Friday, E.U. leaders are to hold the second day of an economic summit in Brussels. Meanwhile, the eurozone is to publish official data on consumer price inflation.
Switzerland is to release official data on producer price inflation.
The U.S. is to round up the week with official data on consumer inflation and preliminary data from the University of Michigan on consumer sentiment. The U.S. is also to release data on industrial production, the capacity utilization rate and manufacturing activity in New York state.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
