The Australian dollar against the greenback was a shade weaker at $0.6851. It happened ahead of a monthly jobs report that could break or make expectations for another interest rate cut as early as February.
There was a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on whether to impeach Trump, later on, yesterday. The Senate will most probably vote in January. It was a significant headwind for the dollar.
An index that tracks the dollar against six major currencies jumped to a six-month high of 97.475, despite the political uncertainty.
In recent days reliable U.S. economic data was revealed. Keeping the dollar stronger, financial data have tamed expectations of easing by the Federal Reserve in the near term. Markets of the money are not pricing in a rate cut anytime soon.
Later in the day, markets will focus on interest rate decisions from the Bank of Japan and Bank of England. Most probably, both banks won’t change the current policy they have.
The pound was last at $1.3077, after sliding nearly 2% in as many days.
Australian Dollar
The Australian dollar climbed to $0.6589, after the New Zealand dollar’s low of $0.6555 on Wednesday. It happened after the annual gross domestic product accelerated 2.7% in the third quarter against the expectations for a 2.4% growth.
From a one-week low on Thursday, the New Zealand dollar bounced. It happened after the country’s third-quarter economic growth became stronger than expected. The dollar traders were waiting to vote to impeach United States President Donald Trump.
Despite the China-United States trade agreement, the specter of U.S.-led tariff war has not disappeared as trader await clarity on the deal. But the fears resurfaced this week.
The yen is mostly flat this month. In a tight range, the haven yen held at 109.57 per dollar.
These are the main news for today morning. Let’s see what will happen later.
