Forex - EUR/USD off 3-week highs as U.S. data scare subsides

Investing.com - The euro edged lower against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, pulling away from a three-week high as the greenback recovered from Wednesday's downbeat U.S. economic reports.

EUR/USD hit 1.2792 during late Asian trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2792, slipping 0.34%.

The pair was likely to find support at 1.2639, the low of October 14 and resistance at 1.2886, Wednesday's high.

The greenback came under broad selling pressure on Wednesday after a string of disappointing U.S. data further dampened expectations for an early rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

Official data showed that U.S. retail sales fell 0.3% last month, more than the expected 0.1% slip, while core retail sales, which exclude automobiles, dropped 0.2% in September, confounding expectations for a 0.3% gain.

A separate report showed that U.S. producer price inflation slipped 0.1% last month, disappointing expectations for a 0.1% rise, while the Federal Reserve of New York reported that its manufacturing index tumbled to a six-month low of 6.2 in October from a reading of 27.5 the previous month.

Meanwhile, the single currency remained fragile after data on Tuesday showed that the euro zone's industrial production declined more than expected in August, while a separate report showed that German economic sentiment deteriorated to the lowest level since December 2012 in October.

The euro was steady against the pound, with EUR/GBP inching up 0.06% to 0.8019.

Later in the day, the U.S. was to release the weekly report on initial jobless claims as well as data on industrial production and manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region.