MW: Dollar down slightly against euro, yen ahead of Friday’s jobs report
The dollar entered Thursday’s session marginally weaker against the euro and the yen as investors waited for indications about the state of the U.S. job market.
Policy makers at the European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged, as expected, which had little effect on the euro. The shared currency EURUSD, +0.0178% gained 0.1% on the day to trade at $1.1229. The dollar USDJPY, -0.13% shed 0.4% of its value to trade at 120.18 yen. The pound GBPUSD, -0.1503% fell 0.2% to $1.5276.
Investors are looking ahead to the employment component of Thursday’s ISM nonmanufacturing survey, expected later Thursday morning, and Friday’s nonfarm payrolls number for August, according to a research note from Barclays
Some analysts say that a strong reading on the report — more than the 213,000 new jobs expected according a survey of economists conducted by MarketWatch — could reassure Federal Reserve policy makers that the U.S. economy is strong enough to withstand an interest-rate hike at the central bank’s meeting later this month.
In Europe, ECB President Mario Draghi speaks at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Traders will be watching for any revisions to the ECB’s forecasts for economic growth and inflation, and how policy makers are responding to concerns about slowing growth in China.
“Updated staff forecasts will likely point to slower growth and less price pressures than had been expected in the June forecasts. Rather than end early as some had previously speculated, the ECB’s asset purchases may be increased,” said Marc Chandler, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman.
The WSJ Dollar Index, a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of rival currencies, was up 0.1% to 88.64.
China’s markets are closed for a holiday Thursday and Friday, which could bring about a period of relative calm. according to Marshall Gittler, head of global FX strategy at IronFX.
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In other currency trading, Sweden’s Riksbank didn’t cut interest rates, which sent the Swedish krona soaring against the dollar.
Recently, the krona USDSEK, -0.8857% traded at 8.36, up 0.9% on the day.
