Dollar recovery loses steam in wait for strong clues on rates, economy
Shafaq News / The dollar took a breather on Thursday morning, waiting for new direction from Friday's U.S. jobs report after a boost the day before from seemingly hawkish comments by a top Federal Reserve official.
The dollar index against major currencies was down 0.1% to 92.189 at midmorning in New York.
The greenback, which gained 0.2% on Wednesday, was trading in a relatively tight range, unmoved by new government reports on jobless claims and the trade deficit that came in close to estimates from economists.
U.S. Treasuries were little changed, too, with the yield on the 10-year note last at 1.2052%.
Friday's employment report for U.S. employment in July is seen as highly uncertain but critical to Fed policymakers deciding when to begin tapering support for the economy.
According to a Reuters survey of economists, nonfarm payrolls likely increased by 880,000 jobs in July, up from 850,000 in June. Economists have warned that the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus and mixed readings from labor market indicators make estimates for July troublesome.
The British pound was up 0.3% to $1.3931 at 10:12 a.m ET (1412 GMT) after the Bank of England kept the size of its bond-buying programme unchanged and held its benchmark interest rate at a historic low of 0.1%.
The central bank said it would start reducing its stock of bonds when its policy rate reaches 0.5% by not reinvesting proceeds and that it would consider actively selling down holdings when the rate reaches at least 1%.
The euro edged up less than 0.1% to $1.1845 .
Against the yen, the dollar rose 0.2% to 109.72 .
Source: Reuters
