At 12:30 GMT, the US economy released its durable goods orders reading, which rose by 15.8% in April, the best reading since July 2016, higher than forecast of 10.3%, and higher than the previous reading of a drop by 17.7%.

The core durable goods orders (excluding transportation items) also rose by 4.4%, better than forecast of 2.1%, and better than the previous reading of a drop by 7.7%. This data is considered positive for the US economy.

At 12:30 GMT, the US department of labor revealed that the unemployment claims reached 1.480 million in the week ending June 20, worse than forecasts of 1.320 million, and slightly better the the previous reading of 1.540 after it was revised from 1.508 million.

At 12:30 GMT, the US economy released its reading for the GDP, which shrank by 5% in Q1 on par with forecasts, at the worst pace since the 2009 global financial crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic, while the previous reading showed growth by 2.1% in Q4 2019. 

The US dollar rose on Wednesday, to extend gains for the second straight day, on investors' risk-aversion, ahead of the release of key data on the US GDP reading for Q1, the weekly unemployment claims and the durable goods orders for May.

The dollar index rose 0.3% to 97.57 points, after opening at 97.24, and hit an intraday low of 97.16 points.

The index rose 0.5%, posting its first daily gain in 3 days, and rebounded from a 2-week low of 96.39 points.

Yesterday's gain is the largest in the two weeks, on strong demand due to warnings about a surge in coronavirus cases in the US and fears over the US-EU trade tensions.

The White House health adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, warned on Tuesday that parts of the US are seeing an alarming increase coronavirus cases, renewed fears about the world's largest economy's recession, and also shows how much more stimulus is needed to counter this crisis.

The Trump administration is considering imposing new tariffs on imports worth $3.1 billion from France, Germany, Spain and the UK, which could escalate trade tensions between the EU and the US.

Investors are anticipating key economic data releases today on the US GDP Q1 reading, the weekly jobless claims and the durable goods orders during May.

The US GDP quarterly reading will be released at 12:30 GMT, with forecasts for a contraction by 5.0% in first quarter of 2020 vs. a growth of 2.1% in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Additionally, the US economy will release the unemployment claims reading, with forecasts to reach 1.320 million during the week ending June 20 vs. 1.508 million during the previous week.

The US economy closure since mid-March has led around 45 million American workers to apply for unemployment benefits, and pushed the US unemployment rate to its all-time high of 14.7% during April.

The US durable goods orders reading is expected to rise by 10.3% in May vs. a drop by 17.7% in April, and the core reading is expected to rise by 2.1% vs. -7.7%.