Talk about having a terrible Thursday! The dollar scored losses against all of the major higher-yielders in yesterday’s trading. But it wasn’t all bad for the Greenback! After three consecutive losses against the yen, it finally scored a win. USD/JPY finished the day higher at 78.34 after opening at 78.15.
Better-than-expected unemployment claims data encouraged risk-taking in the markets yesterday. Statistics reveal that those who filed for unemployment benefits were at their lowest in four and a half years at 339,000 last week. The figure came as a surprise to investors who anticipated the report to print at 368,000.
Don’t get carried away though! You should know that the data could be distorted as one state didn’t make the necessary readjustments to the calculation. More importantly, it’s very unlikely for the Fed to withdraw its stimulus measures just because of one positive unemployment claims report.
But let us not take for granted yesterday’s price action. It would seem that markets are desperate for every bit of good news. With that said, make sure you’re on your toes for the reports we have on tap from the U.S. as they could affect market sentiment today too.
At 1:30 pm GMT, the PPI report for September is seen to come in at -0.8% while the core reading is anticipated at -0.2%. Then at 2:55 pm GMT, the UoM Consumer Sentiment index has been estimated to print at 78.1 for October.