(Removes extraneous word in first paragraph)

* Dollar pauses as Treasury yields rise halts

* Jobless claims, home sales data disappoints

* Cryptocurrencies jump

By Stephen Culp

NEW YORK, Jan 20 (Reuters) - The dollar pared earlier gains on Thursday as this week's upward trajectory of U.S. Treasury yields took a breather.

The greenback edged lower after weekly applications for unemployment insurance unexpectedly jumped to a three-month high.

A separate report showed that sales of pre-owned U.S. homes dropped by 4.6% in December, more than analysts anticipated.

"The dollar's been soft this year," said Marc Chandler, chief market strategist at Bannockburn Forex in New York. "The U.S. economy is facing big headwinds, which is why I’m not nearly as progressive as other people are on the Fed."

"There’s so much tightening coming, and the economy seems to me a bit more vulnerable than many people expected," Chandler added. "This means the dollar is going to have a tougher second half of the year than first half."

U.S. benchmark 10-year note yields US10YT=RR were at 1.8308%, off their two-year high of 1.902% reached on Wednesday.

The advance was driven by market expectations that the U.S. Federal reserve will tighten monetary policy at a faster pace than previously anticipated. Fed funds futures 0#FF: have fully priced in a rate hike in March and a total of four in 2022.

"The big focus is next week’s FOMC meeting and the market will probably be cautious ahead of the weekend, and that’s because of the geopolitical uncertainty at the Ukrainian border," Chandler said, referring to the Federal Open Market Committee.

The Euro EUR=EBS was last at $1.1311, below an earlier high of $1.1369.

The pound GBP=D3 was 0.15% higher at $1.3636 and the yen JPY=D3 was nominally lower 114.11 per dollar.

The Aussie AUD=D3 firmed 0.64% to $0.7257, extending advances from the previous day, and the Canadian dollar CAD=D3 pared earlier gains, with one U.S. dollar worth C$1.2483.

The Norwegian crown fell after the central bank voted to keep interest rates on hold at 0.5% and said it was on track for an interest rate hike in March.

The crown was last down nearly 0.2% against both the euro EURNOK=D3 and the dollar NOK=D3 .

Among cryptocurrencies, bitcoin BTC=BTSP was most recently up 3.6% at $43,182, while smaller rival ether ETH=BTSP gained 5.5% at $3,249.

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Currency bid prices at 10:18AM (1518 GMT) Description

RIC

Last

U.S. Close Pct Change

YTD Pct

High Bid

Low Bid

Previous

Change

Session

Dollar index

=USD

95.5880

95.6000

+0.00%

-0.078%

+95.6670

+95.4170 Euro/Dollar

EUR=EBS

$1.1331

$1.1344

-0.11%

-0.33%

+$1.1369

+$1.1329 Dollar/Yen

JPY=D3

114.1100

114.2100

-0.10%

-0.80%

+114.5400 +114.0400 Euro/Yen

EURJPY=

129.29

129.67

-0.29%

-0.79%

+130.0800 +129.3100 Dollar/Swiss

CHF=EBS

0.9154

0.9156

-0.02%

+0.36%

+0.9161

+0.9141 Sterling/Dollar GBP=D3

$1.3636

$1.3613

+0.15%

+0.81%

+$1.3650

+$1.3599 Dollar/Canadian CAD=D3

1.2483

1.2516

-0.27%

-1.27%

+1.2516

+1.2474 Aussie/Dollar

AUD=D3

$0.7257

$0.7211

+0.64%

-0.16%

+$0.7267

+$0.7207 Euro/Swiss

EURCHF=

1.0373

1.0385

-0.12%

+0.04%

+1.0395

+1.0373 Euro/Sterling

EURGBP=

0.8308

0.8332

-0.29%

-1.10%

+0.8338

+0.8310 NZ

NZD=D3

$0.6789

$0.6787

+0.06%

-0.78%

+$0.6798

+$0.6756 Dollar/Dollar

Dollar/Norway

NOK=D3

8.7705

8.7745

-0.16%

-0.56%

+8.8075

+8.7555 Euro/Norway

EURNOK=

9.9410

9.9580

-0.17%

-0.72%

+9.9881

+9.9333 Dollar/Sweden

SEK=

9.1296

9.1118

+0.09%

+1.24%

+9.1486

+9.0878 Euro/Sweden

EURSEK=

10.3451

10.3362

+0.09%

+1.09%

+10.3731

+10.3257

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World FX rates Link

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Reporting by Stephen Culp; additional reporting by Tommy
Wilkes; editing by Jonathan Oatis