Bond-Buying Program: Dollar and u.s

bond-buying program: The U.S. dollar was given support as Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank ECB announced that the ECB would reduce the pace of its bond-buying program, also known as quantitative easing, beginning in April 2017, according to Xinhua China. Investors saw this announcement as a weakness for the Euro, and a positive for the U.S. dollar, as the U.S. Dollar Index rose by 0.98 percent to 101.20 as of 1800 GMT. The index is a measure of the dollar against a basket of major currencies. The most active gold contract for February delivery fell 5.1 U.S. dollars, or 0.43 percent, to settle at 1,172.40 dollars per ounce. Gold and the dollar typically move in opposite directions, which means if the dollar goes up, gold futures will fall as gold, measured by the dollar, becomes more expensive for investors. Analysts note that although this figure was within expectations, this report is in line with others which show consistently low jobless claims a positive sign for the U.S. economy. Gold was put under further pressure as a report released by the U.S. Department of Labor showed initial jobless claims falling by 10,000 to a 258,000 level during the week of December 3rd. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.