The U.S. dollar edged lower against several major currencies on Thursday as investors await the release of much-anticipated U.S. jobs data set to be announced on Friday.
The euro rose 0.2% against the dollar, trading at $1.0931, while the sterling fell 0.1% to $1.2451. Both the Australian and New Zealand dollars fell against the U.S. dollar as well. The U.S. dollar index hit a two-month low this week, which is partially driven by the 0.1% drop in Treasury yields to 101.81.
Investors will be hoping that Friday’s U.S. non-farm payrolls report will provide promising results, particularly after the Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) disappointing manufacturing and services sector data.
For the week ended April 1, initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped to 228,000; a drop of 18,000 claims. “The (initial claims) revisions paint a different picture from the start of the year, compared to what we thought then that the labor market was doing pretty well,” Amo Sahota, executive director at FX consulting firm Klarity FX in San Francisco observed, suggesting that the labor market is not excelling like many observers expected.