08:41 AM EDT, 05/23/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The US dollar pared losses against major currencies like the euro, pound, and yen during early North American trade on Thursday after initial jobless claims fell more than was expected for the week ending May 18.

EUR/USD and GBP/USD ebbed from session highs around 1.0852 and 1.2745 respectively while USD/JPY climbed from intraday lows around 156.53 after the Department of Labor said initial jobless claims fell to 215,000 last week.

Claims were down from 223,000 a week earlier and below the consensus for a fall to 220,000. Meanwhile, continuing claims edged higher to 1.794 million, from 1.786 million previously.

The US dollar has shown increased sensitivity to labor market figures ever since Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said recently that an unexpected weakening of the labor market is one of two scenarios in which interest rates could still be cut this year.