The U.S. dollar rose on Friday, a day after falling on a surge in U.S. jobless claims and modest inflation, as investors expected the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates next week after a roughly nine-month hiatus.
The greenback rose 0.3% to 147.66 yen, on track for its largest percentage gain in 10 days, after rising for three straight weeks.
The dollar firmed earlier on Friday after a U.S.-Japanese joint statement affirmed exchange rates should be "market determined" and that excess volatility and disorderly moves in exchange rates were undesirable.
The dollar index was up 0.1% at 97.69, but stayed on track to post a weekly fall of under 0.1% and its second consecutive weekly decline.
John Velis, Americas macro strategist at BNY in New York, said Friday's rally was more about position-squaring ahead of the weekend.
"The broader picture is still quite negative for the dollar on a variety of measures," Velis said. "One, of course, is the Fed now beginning to cut rates. The other is, we still see hedging behavior taking place, so foreign investors buying U.S. assets and selling the dollar to hedge it, which is going to keep pressure on the dollar lower."
Data showing U.S. consumer sentiment falling for a second straight month in September weighed slightly on the greenback.
The University of Michigan said on Friday its Consumer Sentiment Index fell to 55.4 this month, the lowest since May, from a final reading of 58.2 in August. Economists polled by Reuters had been expecting a reading of 58.0, little changed from the month before.
3rd party Ad. Not an offer or recommendation by Investing.com. See disclosure here or remove ads.
On Thursday, data showed the biggest weekly increase in four years in the number of Americans filing new applications for jobless benefits.
That overshadowed U.S. consumer inflation data for August, which showed prices rising at the fastest pace in seven months but with increases still modest and broadly in line with expectations.
While the mixed data might add some wrinkles to the Fed's policy deliberations next week, investors are mostly focused on rate cut prospects.
"The hurdle to faster cuts is labor market weakness as long as inflation stays well behaved," said Dominic Bunning, head of G10 FX strategy at Nomura.
"I still think it's a very high bar to cut by 50 basis points next week."
Pricing of Fed fund futures indicates that the market believes the Fed is certain to cut its key interest rate by 25 basis points (bps) on September 17.
However, traders have reined in bets on a larger 50 bps rate cut next month, with pricing implying a shallower path of easing before the end of the year than anticipated earlier, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield rose 5.1 bps to 4.062% from its U.S. close of 4.011% on Thursday, when it fell below 4% for the first time since April.
The euro was down less than 0.1% at $1.1724, a day after rising, as traders curbed their bets on another European Central Bank rate cut this cycle to bet on another move at less than 50%.
Source: Investing.com
The dollar headed for its worst week since late July on Friday (October 3rd) as the US government shutdown heightened uncertainty, while the yen weakened from this week's high as traders considered th...
The dollar weakened near a one-week low on Thursday as traders weighed the impact of the US government shutdown, while poor jobs data raised expectations that the Federal Reserve would cut interest ra...
The U.S. dollar slid to two-week lows against the yen on Wednesday after data showed private-sector jobs in the world's largest economy contracted last month, boosting expectations the Federal Reserve...
The dollar index fell to its lowest level in the session as U.S. corporate payrolls unexpectedly fell in September and traders increased bets on two interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year...
The US dollar continued to weaken, approaching its lowest level in a week as uncertainty over a possible US government shutdown looms. If the US government does shut down, the release of key data, suc...
The S&P 500 closed mostly flat on Friday, the Dow Jones extended its record run, rising 240 points finisheing at 46,758 after briefly surpassing 47,000 during the session, while the Nasdaq slipped 0.3% as the US government shutdown entered its...
Federal Reserve (Fed) Bank of Dallas President Lorie Logan struck a nervous tone on Friday, warning that despite a rapidly-weakening labor market, a lot of potential policy moves could accidentally spark another round of renewed inflationary...
If it just seems like the first Friday of the month wasn't the same without being able to pore through the Bureau of Labor Statistics' hotly watched monthly jobs report, don't worry. You probably didn't miss much. While the BLS has gone dark with...
The bottom line: The release of official US data is delayed because the federal government is currently in shutdown. While the budget hasn't been...
Asian markets opened higher, following a global rally that pushed world indexes to new records, despite the US entering its first government...
European stocks extended gains on Friday, with the STOXX 50 up 0.4% and the STOXX 600 rising 0.3% to fresh record highs, as optimism around...
European stocks were on Thursday, with the STOXX 50 up 1% and the STOXX 600 gaining 0.6%, extending the previous session's rally that drove both...