NEW YORK, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar gained in late trading on Thursday, as the third quarter GDP data showed the U.S. economy grew at a faster-than-expected 4.9 percent annual rate.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, increased 0.08 percent to 106.6052 in late trading.
The highlight in the U.S. data on Thursday was the initial projection of third-quarter GDP, which exceeded expectations by a year-on-year growth of 4.9 percent, surpassing the anticipated 4.7 percent, and marked a notable increase from the 2.1 percent growth in the second quarter.
"This was a very strong report, no doubt about it. That said, it's not likely to be sustainable," said senior economist Sam Bullard of Wells Fargo. "We are not looking for this rate of growth to repeat in the fourth quarter."
Initial jobless claims rose by 10,000 to 210,000 in the week ending Oct. 21, the Labor Department said Thursday. The number of people already collecting jobless benefits in the week ending Oct. 14 rose by 63,000 to 1.79 million.
That's the highest level since May, which could be a sign that workers were having trouble finding new work quickly.
The U.S. mortgage rates rose for the seventh week in a row, making it the longest streak of increases since last spring. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 7.79 percent as of Oct. 26, according to data released by Freddie Mac on Thursday.
In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.0560 U.S. dollars from 1.0567 U.S. dollars in the previous session, and the British pound was up to 1.2135 U.S. dollars from 1.2115 U.S. dollars.
The U.S. dollar bought 150.3720 Japanese yen, higher than 150.0070 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar increased to 0.8990 Swiss francs from 0.8967 Swiss francs, and it rose to 1.3813 Canadian dollars from 1.3793 Canadian dollars. The U.S. dollar was up to 11.1600 Swedish krona from 11.1441 Swedish krona. ■
