RTTN: Dollar Mixed Ahead Of US Jobless Claims, Trade Data
The Commerce Department is scheduled to release its trade balance report for January at 8:30 am ET. Economists expect the trade deficit to have widened to $43 billion from a deficit of $38.5 billion in December.
Around the same time, the Labor Department is set to release its jobless claims report. The consensus expectations call for an increase in claims to 355,000 in the week ended March 2nd from 344,000 in the previous week.
The Labor Department will also release its revised fourth quarter non-farm productivity and costs report at 8:30 am ET. Economists expect an upward revision to productivity, with the productivity now likely to have declined by 1.6 percent compared to the preliminary estimate for a 2 percent drop. Unit labor costs may have increased by 4.4 percent compared to the 4.5 percent growth estimated earlier.
The US dollar showed mixed performance ahead of the data. While the greenback edged higher against the yen, it held steady versus the rest of majors. As of 8:25 am ET, the dollar was trading at 1.5050 against the pound, 94.44 against the yen, 1.3020 against the euro and 0.9465 against the Swiss franc
