U.S. dollar dips after massive jobless claims, Fed stimulus

NEW YORK, April 9 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar weakened in late trading on Thursday after another massive jump in the country's jobless claims and the Federal Reserve's latest move to support the economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, decreased 0.49 percent at 99.6244 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro increased to 1.0923 U.S. dollars from 1.0861 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound increased to 1.2445 dollars from 1.2392 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar increased to 0.6318 U.S. dollar from 0.6235 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 108.48 Japanese yen, lower than 108.81 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar fell to 0.9668 Swiss franc from 0.9712 Swiss franc, and it was down to 1.4020 Canadian dollars from 1.4039 Canadian dollars.

The number of initial jobless claims in the United States totaled 6.6 million last week amid mounting economic fallout from COVID-19, following a similar staggering figure the week earlier, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Thursday.

The Federal Reserve on Thursday announced additional actions to provide up to 2.3 trillion U.S. dollars in loans to support the economy.

"This funding will assist households and employers of all sizes and bolster the ability of state and local governments to deliver critical services during the coronavirus pandemic," the U.S. central bank said in a statement.