Dollar Holds Steady Ahead of Fedspeak, Key Data
A gauge of the greenback held steady as investors wait to get cues from some Federal Reserve speakers, as well as from some major earnings and jobs data due later this week. The Australian dollar edged slightly lower as minutes of the central bank’s early November meeting showed members remain cautious and data dependent.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index treaded water after rising 0.3% on Monday to post its best gain in two weeks. Results from Nvidia and Walmart due Wednesday will likely provide insights into both the AI boom and the strength of the US consumer.
The delayed September jobs report is due Thursday.
“Non-farm payrolls this week is going to be important, but given consensus (55k jobs and unemployment rate unchanged at 4.3%), the data is likely to be USD supportive and support the notion of a Fed on hold in December,” says Rodrigo Catril, a strategist at National Australia Bank in Sydney.
Then, we are likely to face yet another period of data vacuum (Oct CPI and NFP, at best will be partial releases, or at worst won’t be published).
Equity jitters and no reliable US data are likely to favor the USD over coming weeks.
Treasury yields eased across the curve with 10-year down one basis point to 4.125%.
AUD/USD down 0.2% to 0.6483 after losing 0.7% Monday amid broad greenback strength fueled by risk-off sentiment; Australia 3-year yields bottomed at 3.75% in wake of the minutes.
“Members determined that they could afford to be patient while assessing what the incoming data reveal about their judgements on the extent of spare capacity, the outlook for the labor market and the degree of restrictiveness of monetary policy,” the minutes showed.
EUR/USD steady at 1.1593; USD/JPY little changed at 155.18.
Source : Bloomberg.com
