Dollar falls despite strong jobs numbers THE US dollar Thursday declined against other major currencies despite a strong report on jobless claims. At 2200 GMT, the euro traded at $1.3000, up from $1.2956 late Wednesday. The dollar also gave up ground to the Japanese yen, trading at 96.08 yen, down from 96.14 yen. The euro traded at 124.91 yen, up from 124.56. The British pound traded at $1.5077, up from $1.4920 the same time Wednesday. And the dollar fell against the Swiss franc, trading at 0.9470 franc compared with 0.9526 a day earlier. The trading followed a report that new US claims for unemployment benefits, an indicator of the pace of layoffs, fell for the third straight week, suggesting a possible tightening of the US labor market. Boris Schlossberg, managing director at BK Asset Management, said "other factors dominated trade" Thursday in spite of the improved jobless claims figures. Schlossberg cited "short covering" between the dollar and the pound. The rise in the pound-dollar trade "helped to lift the euro off its lows," he said. The rebounds in other major currencies against the dollar "are seen as profit taking and short covering positions, rather than a material change in sentiment," said Christopher Vecchio, currency analyst at DailyFX. "Bottom line: we remain bullish the US dollar but are mindful of the potential for a short-term pullback," Vecchio said. Despite the dollar's decline Thursday, the currency is "poised to track higher" due to heightening inflation pressures that could boost the Federal Reserve to adopt more aggressive policies to tackle inflation, said David Song, currency analyst at DailyFX.