Dollar Strengthens as a Drop U.S Jobless Claims
The US dollar strengthened again to a six-week high on Thursday (January 15th), after jobless claims data showed the labor market remained quite "stubborn" — reinforcing confidence that the Fed could hold interest rates for the next few months. The dollar index (DXY) held around 99.33 after briefly touching 99.49 (the highest since December 2nd).
The main trigger came from the US Department of Labor report: initial jobless claims fell by 9,000 to 198,000 for the week ending January 10th, well below market expectations of 215,000. Continuing claims also fell to 1.884 million.
In the foreign exchange market, the euro fell to around 1.1605 and briefly touched 1.1592 (the lowest since December 2nd), while the yen weakened to around 158.45–158.55 per dollar.
Risk sentiment improved after US President Donald Trump said he had no plans to fire Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and signaled a "wait-and-see" approach to Iran after receiving reports that violence in the crackdown on protests was beginning to subside and that there were no plans for mass executions in the near future.
In Asia, the yen was also overshadowed by domestic political issues: markets assessed the potential for a more expansionary fiscal stance could pressure the Japanese currency, while the threat of intervention remained on the radar after the USD/JPY pair briefly hit its lowest level in 18 months at 159.45 yen on Wednesday.
In the crypto market, Bitcoin weakened to around US$95,506.
Source: Newsmaker.id
