Foreign exchange market. American session: the euro dropped against the U.S. dollar after the European Central Bank's press conference

The U.S. dollar traded higher against the most major currencies despite the weaker-than-expected number of initial jobless claims from the U.S. The number of initial jobless claims in the week ending January 17 in the U.S. fell by 10,000 to 307,000 from 317,000 in the previous week, missing expectations for a decline by 16,000. The previous week's figure was revised to 317,000 from 316,000.

The euro dropped against the U.S. dollar after the European Central Bank's (ECB) press conference. The European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi said at the press conference that the central bank will launch an expanded asset purchase programme of 60 billion euro a month starting from March 2015 until September 2016.

The ECB released its interest decision today. The central bank kept its interest rate unchanged at 0.05%.

Eurozone's consumer confidence index rose to -8.5 in January from -10.9 in December. Analysts had expected the index to increase to -10.5.

The British pound fell against the U.S. dollar. The public sector net borrowing in the U.K. rose to £13.1 billion in December from £10.3 billion a year earlier, missing expectations for a decline to £9.2 billion.

The CBI industrial order books balance fell to +4% in January from +5% in December. Analysts expected the CBI industrial order books balance to remain unchanged at +5%.

British factories expect a decline in exports orders in the next three months, the CBI said.

The Canadian dollar traded mixed against the U.S. dollar. The loonie dropped against the greenback yesterday as the Bank of Canada cut its interest rate. The BoC lowered its interest rate to 0.75% from 1.0%.

The New Zealand dollar traded lower against the U.S. dollar. In the overnight trading session, the kiwi traded lower against the greenback despite the solid Business NZ performance of manufacturing index (PMI). The Business NZ performance of manufacturing index (PMI) rose to 57.7 in December from 55.6 in November. November's figure was revised up from 55.2.

The Australian dollar traded lower against the U.S. dollar. In the overnight trading session, the Aussie traded lower against the greenback after the weak economic data from Australia. The Melbourne Institute's consumer inflation expectations for Australia decreased to 3.2% in January from 3.4% in December.

Australia's new home sales climbed 2.2% in November, after a 3.0% gain in October.

The Japanese yen traded lower against the U.S. dollar. In the overnight trading session, the yen traded lower against the greenback. The Bank of Japan (BoJ) released its monthly economic report on Thursday. The BoJ said that Japanese consumer inflation will slow further due to falling oil prices.