The dollar was higher by the afternoon Thursday session as traders took to the sidelines ahead of tomorrow's key US labor report. The greenback rebounded from a near one-week low against the euro around 1.4917 to bounce toward the 1.48-figure.

The economic reports released this morning included weekly jobless claims, Q3 productivity and Q3 labor costs. The weekly jobless claims improved to 512k versus an upwardly revised 532k in the previous week. Meanwhile, Q3 productivity blew away consensus estimates for a decline to 6.4%, instead surging to 9.5% from 6.9% in the previous quarter - its highest level in the third quarter since 2003. The preliminary reading for labor costs in Q3 declined by more than expected, falling by 5.2% compared with a 6.1% drop in the previous quarter.

Traders will look ahead to Friday's key economic reports, consisting of the October unemployment rate, non-farm payrolls, September wholesale inventory and sales, and consumer credit. Consensus estimates are looking for the unemployment rate to climb to new multi-decade high at 9.9% from 9.8% in September. Meanwhile, non-farm payrolls are seen improving to 175.0 jobs lost in October compared with 263k jobs shed in the previous month.