Early trade in New York: dollar advances for second day

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.
US 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.
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.
In mid-morning trading, the dollar index was up 0.7% at 100.19.
Against the yen, the dollar rose 0.2% at 107.33 yen.
The euro, meanwhile, continued its decline, falling 1.1% to $1.0843
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.