The dollar is gaining ground against all of its major rivals Thursday afternoon, following today's highly anticipated announcement from the European Central Bank. The decision to leave interest rates unchanged was in line with expectations, but some comments from ECB President Mario Draghi caused some volatility in the markets.

The European Central Bank kept its key interest rates unchanged for a fifth consecutive session and retained its asset purchases, apparently setting the stage for December action as policymakers explore how to implement any extension of stimulus.

The Governing Council, led by ECB President Mario Draghi, held the refi rate unchanged at a record low zero percent in the policy session held in Frankfurt.

The deposit rate was maintained at -0.40 percent, and the marginal lending facility rate at 0.25 percent. The three rates were previously lowered in March.

"The Governing Council continues to expect the key ECB interest rates to remain at present or lower levels for an extended period of time, and well past the horizon of the net asset purchases," the bank said in a statement.

The bank also confirmed that the monthly asset purchases of EUR 80 billion are intended to run until the end of March 2017, or beyond, if necessary, and in any case until a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation consistent with its inflation aim is seen.

The latest policy decision was in line with economists' expectations.

ECB President Mario Draghi ruled out any discussion of 'tapering' among policymakers in the latest rate-setting session, but added that it was unlikely that asset purchases would have an abrupt end, signaling that they may be extended beyond March 2017.

"We did not discuss tapering or the intended asset purchase horizon," Draghi said in response to questions from reporters during the post-decision press conference in Frankfurt. There will not be a sudden stop once the bank decided to end the programme, he said.

That said, Draghi stressed that extraordinary monetary support cannot be in place forever, but he found it unlikely that the bank's asset purchases would come to an abrupt end, suggesting they would be wound down or tapered first.

The dollar surged to nearly a 4-month high of $1.0915 against the Euro Thursday, but has since eased back to around $1.0935.

The euro area current account surplus increased to a 3-month high in August, the European Central Bank said Thursday. The current account surplus rose to EUR 29.7 billion from EUR 27.7 billion in July. This was the highest since May, when the surplus totaled EUR 33.1 billion.

Germany's producer prices declined at a faster-than-expected pace in September, figures from Destatis showed Thursday. The producer price index fell 1.4 percent year-over-year in September, exceeding economists' forecast for a decrease of 1.2 percent. However, it was slower than the 1.6 percent drop in August.

The buck rose to a high of $1.2208 against the pound sterling Thursday morning, but has since retreated to around $1.2260.

U.K. retail sales remained unchanged for a second month in September as higher prices and warm weather weighed on clothing sales.

There was no change in the sales volume compared with August, the Office for National Statistics reported Thursday. Economists had forecast a 0.3 percent increase for September following nil growth in August.

The greenback has advanced to around Y103.960 against the Japanese Yen this afternoon, from an early low of Y103.390.

Initial jobless claims in the U.S. rose by more than expected in the week ended October 15th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims climbed to 260,000, an increase of 13,000 from the previous week's revised level of 247,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 250,000 from the 246,000 originally reported for the previous month.

While the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia released a report on Thursday showing a slowdown in the pace of regional manufacturing growth in the month of October, the pace of growth slowed less than economists had expected.

The Philly Fed said its index for current manufacturing activity in the region fell to 9.7 in October from 12.8 in September, but a positive reading indicates continued growth. Economists had expected the index to drop to 7.0.

Partly reflecting a jump in the share of sales by first-time home buyers, the National Association of Realtors released a report on Thursday showing that existing home sales in the U.S. rebounded by much more than anticipated in the month of September.

NAR said existing home sales jumped by 3.2 percent to an annual rate of 5.47 million in September after falling by 1.5 percent to a downwardly revised rate of 5.30 million in August. Economists had expected existing home sales to inch up by 0.4 percent to a rate of 5.35 million from the 5.33 million originally reported for the previous month.

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