07:49 AM EDT, 05/02/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The US dollar declined against its major trading partners early Thursday ahead of another busy day of data releases as markets continue to digest the outcome of Wednesday's Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

The FOMC's statement and comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell indicated the Fed's concerns that inflation progress remains sluggish and that it will take longer for the FOMC to feel confident enough to lower interest rates.

On the other hand, the FOMC did slow the pace of runoff of its holdings of US Treasury securities and Powell said that it is "unlikely" that the FOMC's next move would be a rate hike. The next meeting is scheduled for June 11-12.

Thursday's schedule starts with weekly jobless claims, international trade data for March and the preliminary estimate of Q1 productivity and unit labor costs, all at 8:30 am ET.

Factory orders data for March is set to be released at 10:00 am ET followed by weekly natural gas stocks data at 10:30 am ET and an update to the Atlanta Fed's gross domestic product Nowcast model around midday.

Earlier Thursday, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said layoff intentions declined in April from March and a year earlier but could just be "the calm before the storm." Tesla's announcement of 14,000 job cuts was a key factor in that assessment.

A quick summary of foreign exchange activity heading into Thursday:

EUR-USD rose to 1.0703 from 1.0691 at the Wednesday US close and 1.0669 at the same time Wednesday morning. The Eurozone manufacturing purchasing managers' index declined further below the breakeven point in April, data released overnight showed. European Central Bank policy board member Philip Lane is set to speak at 4:15 pm ET. The next European Central Bank meeting is scheduled for June 6.

GBP-USD rose to 1.2513 from 1.2495 at the Wednesday US close and 1.2486 at the same time Wednesday morning. There are no UK data on Thursday's schedule. The next Bank of England meeting is scheduled for May 9.

USD-JPY fell to 155.1178 from 157.4837 at Wednesday US close and 157.9264 at the same time Wednesday morning. The pair plunged to a low around 153.3374 immediately after a presumed intervention by Japanese officials shortly after the US close, but began to recover almost immediately. Japanese household confidence slipped in April, data released overnight showed. The next Bank of Japan meeting is scheduled for June 13-14.

USD-CAD fell to 1.3724 from 1.3739 at the Wednesday US close and 1.3772 at the same time Wednesday morning. The Canadian trade balance for March is set to be released at 8:30 am ET. Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem is scheduled to speak at 8:45 am ET. Macklem said Wednesday the BoC is getting closer to the point where it can begin to cut rates, but moving too fast could impact the progress already made on inflation. The next BoC meeting is scheduled for June 5.