U.S. Dollar Extends Gain
04 March 2015 - 6:43PM
RTTF2
The U.S. dollar continued its early advance against the other
major currencies in the Asian session on Wednesday, as traders
awaited U.S. jobs data and the European Central Bank meeting due
this week.
The U.S. jobs data for February is slated for release on Friday.
Economists expect the unemployment rate to fall 5.6 percent in
February, compared to 5.7 percent in January.
A strong reading could prompt the Federal Reserve to hike rates
soon. Meanwhile, uncertainty over whether the U.S. Federal Reserve
will start raising interest rates by mid-year or wait a while
longer remain.
Some economists expect the Fed will quit the word "patient" in
its forward guidance at its policy meeting on March 17-18,
supporting the way for a possible rate hike in June.
Traders also look forward to the release of the ADP employment
report and the ISM non-manufacturing report due later in the day,
as well as the weekly jobless claims data on Thursday.
The European Central Bank policy makers are due to meet in
Cyprus for a 2-day monetary policy meeting on Thursday. Traders
focus on the commencement of the bank's quantitative easing
program. The bank will provide further details on its 1 trillion
euro ($1.118 trillion) government bond-buying program, which begins
this month.
Tuesday, the U.S. dollar rose 0.07 percent against the euro,
0.05 percent against the pound, 0.20 percent against the Swiss
franc and 0.05 percent against the yen.
In the Asian trading today, the U.S. dollar rose to more than
1-1/2-month high of 0.9627 against the Swiss franc, from
yesterday's closing value of 0.9608. On the upside, 1.02 is seen as
the next resistance level for the greenback.
Against the euro and the pound, the greenback edged up to 1.1164
and 1.5344 from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.1174 and 1.5355,
respectively. If the greenback extends its uptrend, it is likely to
find resistance around 1.10 against the euro and 1.51 against the
pound.
Moving away from an early low of 119.48 against the yen, the
greenback edged up to 119.77. The greenback is likely to find
resistance around the 122.05 region.
The greenback edged up to 1.2506 against the Canadian dollar. At
yesterday's close, the greenback was trading at 1.2494 against the
loonie. The greenback may test resistance near the 1.28 region.
Looking ahead, PMI reports from major European economies for
February and Eurzone retail sales data for January are due to be
released in the European session.
In the New York session, Markit's U.S. PMI, ISM U.S.
non-manufacturing PMI and private sector employment report - all
for February are slated for release.
At 9:00 am ET, U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President
Charles Evans will deliver a speech about the economic outlook and
monetary policy at the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Rotary Club 2015
Economic Breakfast in Lake Forest.
Around 45 minutes later, Bank of England's Deputy Governor
Andrew Bailey is expected to speak on currency at Treasury
Committee Hearing, U.K.
The Bank of Canada will announce its interest rate decision at
10:00 am ET. Economists expect the bank to retain interest rates
unchanged at 0.75 percent.
At 2:00 pm ET, U.S. Federal Reserve releases Beige Book
report.
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