* U.S. jobless claims, spending data weigh on dollar
* FOMC minutes still pressuring dollar
* Dollar/yen hits 10-mth low, euro/dollar at 15-mth high
(Updates prices, adds comments, U.S. data; changes dateline,
previous LONDON, byline)
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK, Nov 25 (Reuters) - The dollar slid to a fresh
15-month low against a basket of currencies on Wednesday as the
decline in weekly jobless claims and a rise in personal
consumption improved the outlook for the U.S. economy.
Traders had earlier sold the dollar across the board,
pushing it to a 10-month low against the yen, as Federal
Reserve minutes released on Tuesday showed policymakers saw the
U.S. currency's recent decline as "orderly". The minutes also
affirmed expectations U.S. interest rates will stay essentially
at zero until around mid-2010.
The U.S. reports along with the Fed stance emboldened
investors to seek riskier investments elsewhere for higher
returns, boosting higher-yielding such as the Australian
dollar.
"The U.S. data was mixed but overall the market is taking
it positively. Jobs are the most important thing, so they're
latching on to the fact that jobless claims were below 500,000,
which means we could see a better non-farm payrolls report
going forward," said Kathy Lien, director of FX research at GFT
in New York.
"That should feed risk appetite, which is why the dollar
hasn't rallied much against the euro or sterling but has pared
losses a bit against the yen."
For most of the year, the dollar, which is typically viewed
as a safe haven, tends to fall on upbeat economic data.
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For personal spending data, click on [],
durables goods, []; and jobless claims
[].
For a graphic on US weekly jobless claims, please click on
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/119/US_IJCCSI1109.gif
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The euro <EUR=> hit a 15-month high at $1.5096 according
to Reuters data, and was last up 0.6 percent at $1.5058.
The ICE Futures dollar index <.DXY>, which measures its
performance against a basket of six currencies, fell to 74.399,
a 15-month low. It was last at 74.523, down 0.7 percent.
The dollar fell 1.1 percent to 87.53 yen <JPY=>, according
to Reuters data, after falling as low as 87.40, its lowest
since January.
(Additional reporting By Steven C. Johnson)
(Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)
((gertrude.chavez@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 223 6322; Reuters
Messaging: gertrude.chavez.reuters.com@reuters.net))
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