FOREX-Dollar advances for 2nd day, shrugs off record U.S. jobless claims

* Dollar up vs euro, Japanese yen
* U.S. jobless claims surge to record
* Norwegian crown up nearly 2% amid better dollar liquidity
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2019 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh

(Adds U.S. jobless claims data, new comment, FX table, updates prices; changes byline, dateline; previous
LONDON)
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK, April 2 (Reuters) - The dollar rose for a second straight day against a basket of currencies
on Thursday as investors, worried about the prospect of a global recession continued to take shelter in
the greenback.
U.S. jobless claims in the latest week soared to a record level, yet the dollar's reaction was tepid
at most.
Data showed initial claims for unemployment benefits rose to 6.65 million in the latest week from an
unrevised 3.3 million the previous week. The figures far exceeded the median estimate of 3.50 million in a
Reuters survey of economists. "The order of magnitude of this data is so colossal compared to expectations that there's really no
datum to work out what the story is," said Richard Benson, co-chief investment officer at Millennium
Global Investments in London.
"It's just very, very bad. So I am not sure the market is going to trade on data surprises from that
mix," he added.
Markets have been alarmed since U.S. President Donald Trump's warning on Tuesday of a painful two
weeks ahead in fighting the coronavirus, even with strict social distancing measures. The United States now has over 200,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases - the most worldwide - which has sent
investors flocking to safe-haven assets such as the U.S. dollar.
Still, analysts do not expect the dollar rally of recent weeks to continue further amid a series of
measures aimed to make sure that there is no global shortage of dollars. The cost to borrow dollars in the euro and yen funding markets fell considerably after the Fed
liquidity injections, with three-month FX swap spreads snapping back from 2008 global financial crisis
levels last month.
Costs blew out in mid-March as stress in the dollar funding market caused by the coronavirus pandemic
led to a global scramble to secure dollar funds. EURCBS3M=ICAP JPYCBS3M=ICAP
In mid-morning trading, the dollar index was up 0.7% at 100.19 =USD .
Against the yen, the dollar rose 0.2% at 107.33 yen JPY=EBS .
The euro, meanwhile, continued its decline, falling 1.1% to $1.0843 EUR=EBS
The Fed's efforts to improve dollar liquidity have turned out to be beneficial for other currencies
too, such as the Norwegian crown, which advanced further on Thursday to hit a three-week high of 11.1820
against the euro. It was last trading up 2% at 11.24 EURNOK=D3
To combat the economic slowdown inflicted by the pandemic, the Fed said on Wednesday it was
temporarily easing its leverage rules for large banks by exempting certain investments from a key leverage
calculation. Currency bid prices at 9:58AM (1358 GMT)
Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid
Previous Change
Session
Euro/Dollar EUR= $1.0849 $1.0962 -1.03% -3.21% +1.0968 +1.0842
Dollar/Yen JPY= 107.2700 107.1500 +0.11% -1.46% +107.5600 +107.0300
Euro/Yen EURJPY= 116.40 117.48 -0.92% -4.55% +117.7200 +116.3600
Dollar/Swiss CHF= 0.9720 0.9654 +0.68% +0.44% +0.9729 +0.9651
Sterling/Dollar GBP= 1.2369 1.2376 -0.06% -6.71% +1.2474 +1.2353
Dollar/Canadian CAD= 1.4255 1.4188 +0.47% +9.77% +1.4298 +1.4081
Australian/Doll AUD= 0.6020 0.6070 -0.82% -14.26% +0.6119 +0.6008
ar
Euro/Swiss EURCHF= 1.0547 1.0582 -0.33% -2.81% +1.0594 +1.0547
Euro/Sterling EURGBP= 0.8770 0.8858 -0.99% +3.74% +0.8861 +0.8758
NZ NZD= 0.5888 0.5905 -0.29% -12.59% +0.5973 +0.5882
Dollar/Dollar
Dollar/Norway NOK= 10.4466 10.4310 +0.15% +19.02% +10.4738 +10.2252
Euro/Norway EURNOK= 11.3357 11.4640 -1.12% +15.19% +11.4785 +11.1816
Dollar/Sweden SEK= 10.1365 9.9826 -0.07% +8.43% +10.1484 +9.9849
Euro/Sweden EURSEK= 11.0004 11.0085 -0.07% +5.07% +11.0145 +10.9102