JOLTS Surprise Markets, Dollar Rebounds and Yen Under Pressure
The US dollar index (DXY) strengthened to the 99.20 area on Tuesday (June 2nd) after JOLTS Job Openings data surged to 7.618 million in April from 6.887 million in March, well above market expectations of around 6.88 million. This figure reinforces the narrative that the US labor market remains quite strong, making the room for monetary policy easing increasingly limited.
Dollar sentiment was also supported by news that US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to encourage AI innovation and security, including measures to strengthen cybersecurity standards in government agencies. This combination of jobs data and policy headlines kept the USD in demand.
In Europe, EUR/USD traded within a range of 1.1630, pressured by a stronger dollar and awaiting further clues from eurozone data and comments from ECB officials. The market is still looking for confirmation of the direction of European growth and inflation to determine whether the ECB has room for a more assertive policy stance.
GBP/USD held slightly higher in the 1.3470 area, but remained under the shadow of the dominant greenback. Additional pressure came from comments by Bank of England (BoE) MPC member Megan Greene, who assessed that households and businesses were increasingly sensitive to inflation and emphasized that the risks of "acting too late" on persistent inflation could outweigh the risks of tightening too aggressively.
In Asia, USD/JPY rose to near 159.90, back near the psychological 160 level, as yield spreads remained favorable to the US dollar, even as the market remained hopeful that the BoJ would continue its gradual normalization process. Meanwhile, AUD/USD strengthened towards 0.7180, with investor attention shifting to the release of Australia's Q1 GDP and PMI data, which could signal economic conditions and the direction of RBA policy. (Arl)*
Source: Newsmaker.id
