Dollar Up, Investors Brace for Latest U.S. Jobs Report By Investing.com

By Gina Lee

Investing.com – The dollar was up on Friday morning in Asia in the . The data could see the U.S. tighten its monetary policy earlier than Europe and Japan, where the prospect still remains distant.

The that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies edged up 0.12% to 92.362 by 12:41 AM ET (4:41 AM GMT).

The pair inched up 0.10% to 109.84.

The pair was down 0.24% to 0.7387 and the pair inched down 0.09% to 0.7046.

The pair inched up 0.06% to 6.4646.

The pair inched down 0.05% to 1.3920. The kept its interest rate unchanged at 0.10%, with other policy settings also remaining unchanged, as it handed down its policy decision on Thursday. The BOE did, however, outline a plan towards asset tapering and interest rate hikes in the years to come.

The also handed down its policy decision earlier in the day.

U.S. Federal Reserve Vice Chair Richard Clarida’s comments earlier in the week, where he said conditions for an interest rate hike could be met in late 2022, led to a sharper focus on the labor market’s recovery from COVID-19 and the U.S. jobs report, due later in the day.

“It certainly feels this is a big jobs report that carries real meaning,” both for the economy and rates, Pepperstone head of research Chris Weston told Reuters.

Should the number exceed a million, it could send the dollar and U.S. yields sharply higher, while a number under 650,000 could rattle nerves, though perhaps not the dollar if it benefits from investors’ risk-aversion, he added.

Investors also digested a mixed back of U.S. economic data released earlier in the week. The data, released on Wednesday, said the was at 330,000 in July, the was 59.9, the was at 53.8 and the was at 64.1.

However, investors cheered a drop in U.S. , with 385,000 claims submitted during the past week.

Although the riskier Antipodean currencies retreated as the greenback strengthened, the New Zealand dollar was poised to be the best performing G10 currency as the week ends. Expectation is also growing that the will hike interest rates at its next meeting on Aug. 18.

Its Australian counterpart was stuck in a range, however. Even a record trade surplus nor a surprisingly hawkish tone from the Reserve Bank of Australia as it handed down its earlier in the week were enough to pull it out.