Dollar Eyes Worst Week Since 2022 Ahead of Payrolls
The dollar fell against most Group-of-10 peers and headed for its worst week in more than two years amid speculation that stalling US growth momentum will prompt the Federal Reserve to resume policy easing.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index is down 0.4% Friday, taking the weekly decline to 2.5%; it’s down a fifth day, its longest losing streak in a year.
Data this week showed private payrolls increased by only about half of what economists estimated and job-cut announcements mounted.
Against this backdrop, investors are waiting for a US jobs report and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to speak on the economic outlook later Friday.
Antipodean currencies led G-10 losses as uncertainty over the US tariff policy spurred risk aversion in the market.
AUD/USD falls as much as 0.6% to 0.6297 before halving losses.
USD/JPY drops 0.5% to 147.21, its lowest since Oct. 4; it’s down 2.2% this week; Japan’s Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato said that there have been one-sided and rapid movements in the currency market since December, noting that the government will take appropriate measures against any excessive FX moves.
EUR/USD is up 0.8% to 1.0871, a fresh four-month high; it’s up 4.7% this week, its best performance since 2009.
Options leave room open for more gains as pullback in the latest rally for risk reversals is shallow and as demand for low-delta optionality over the next month in EUR/USD surpasses that in USD/JPY for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
EUR/GBP up a fifth day, rises 0.4% to 0.8406; the 1.8% weekly advance is the widest in two years.
Source : Bloomberg
