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Dollar Eases Versus The Euro As An Eventful Week Begins
(CTN News) – On Monday, the dollar fell against the euro, ahead of this week’s budget news in Britain, a meeting of the European Central Bank, and U.S. jobs data, as well as major political events in China and the United States.
After a quiet weekend, Bitcoin rose above $65,000, reaching a more than two-year peak, pushed higher by huge flows into cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds, particularly in the United States. As of last night, Bitcoin was up 6.39 percent at $66,603.
The euro rose 0.15% to $1.08565, while the dollar index, which compares the currency with six major peers, declined 0.03% to $103.73. Yen exchange rates fluctuated around 150 per dollar, a level closely watched by investors. In the last hour, the dollar rose 0.28% to 150.555 yen.
The majority of major currency pairs remained within recent trading ranges as traders avoided large directional bets ahead of a number of potentially market-moving events this week.
In light of the abundance of new information expected this week, FX markets are once again operating with a high degree of caution, according to Helen Given, an FX trader at Monex USA in Washington.
I would not be surprised if flows remain muted in the front half of this week.
On Wednesday and Thursday, Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, will testify before congressional committees. Approximately 200,000 jobs are expected to be added to the US Dollar payrolls on Friday, following January’s stunning 353,000 job gain.
MUFG’s senior currency analyst Lee Hardman stated, “Payrolls could be the major mover since Powell is likely comfortable with current market pricing for Fed cuts, while another strong payroll report after the last blowout report could affect market expectations (for Fed policy).”
Traders had priced in substantial interest rate cuts for 2024 at the beginning of this year, but such bets have since been reduced.
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