On Friday the euro fell against the greenback after rising to extend modest gains from the previous session, and U.S. Treasury prices jumped ahead of Friday's report on the employment situation in the U.S.
EUR/USD traded in a range of 1.0875 and 1.0942 and was last at 1.0907, lower 0.15% on the session. The euro has been
relatively flat against the dollar over the last month, down
approximately 0.6% during the last 30 days of trading.
Despite the modest gains, EUR/USD has still remained below 1.10 for each of the last eight sessions.
Investors await the release of Friday's job report by the Labor
Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics for further indications on the
timing of the Federal Reserve's first interest rate hike since 2006.
Projections are for 223,000 new jobs to have been added, although yesterday
Goldman Sachs upped its own estimates from 215,000 to 225,000.
Analysts consider that if the numbers come in at 215K to 220K, there would be more speculation concerning a Federal Reserve rate bump at its September meeting. If the numbers come in much below 215K, the rate increase would be seen as more likely in December. Analysts at Kitco News say they still feel it’s going to be December (if this year at all) regardless of any labor data timing.
On Wednesday, Fed governor Jerome Powell said it is not a certainty that the Federal Open Market Committee will raise rates during its September meeting, as many investors anticipate, adding that he will take a data-driven approach to the decision on whether to normalize monetary policy, placing particular stress on the strength of the labor market.
Meanwhile, Atlanta U.S. Federal Reserve Bank President Dennis Lockhart commented that the Fed was "close" to
being ready to raise short-term rates. Lockhart noted
it would take major weakness in the data to convince him not to move.
"I think there is a high bar right now to not acting, speaking for myself," he said. The Atlanta Fed president is a voting member on rate policy this year. He is seen by Fed watchers as a key bellwether of the thinking of the majority on the U.S. central bank due to his pragmatic approach to economic issues.
Elsewhere, yields on the U.S. 10-Year fell four basis points to 2.227% as Treasury prices surged in Thursday's session.
In London, the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)
voted 8-1 to maintain interest rates at record-lows of 0.5%, amid a muted
inflation outlook.
GBP/USD fell more than 0.5% to an intraday low of 1.5467, its lowest level in more than three weeks, before rising to 1.5511.
