U.S. greenback stays broadly larger regardless of weak U.S. knowledge

© Reuters. U.S. dollar remains broadly higher in New Year’s Eve trading

Investing.com – The dollar held on to broad gains on Thursday, the last trading day of 2015, despite the release of disappointing U.S. economic data.

Volumes were expected to remain light as many traders already closed books before the end of the year, reducing liquidity in the market.

The , which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.27% at 98.57 during U.S. morning hours.

Manufacturing activity in the Chicago-area contracted at the fastest pace since July 2009 in December, dampening optimism over the U.S. economic outlook, .

Market research group Kingsbury International said its tumbled by 5.8 points to 42.9 this month from a reading of 48.7 in November. Analysts had expected the index to rise 1.1 points to 49.8 in December. On the index, a reading above 50.0 indicates expansion, below indicates contraction.

A separate report showed that the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week.

The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits . Analysts expected jobless claims to rise by 3,000 to 270,000 from the prior week’s 267,000.

The data failed to offer clues as to how fast the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next year.

With the first U.S. rate hike since 2006 out of the way, the focus is now on the pace of future rate increases. The Fed, from its forecasts, is anticipating four rate hikes next year.

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U.S. greenback stays broadly larger regardless of weak U.S. knowledge