The dollar edged slightly lower during Thursday’s Asian session, falling 0.1 percent against the yen to 104.41, after Wednesday posted another down day for U.S. stock markets. Other major currencies also traded lower on Thursday. The Australian dollar traded at $0.7626 early in the session, down from highs on Wednesday after inflation reports were better than expected. The euro was also slightly lower than Wednesday’s close, hitting $1.0897 within hours of the open.
Asian markets also continued their losses on Thursday, with reports out of China this morning showing that the country’s industrial firms failed to meet last month’s rapid pace, an indication that the country’s economy remains insecure.
Reports Coming Today and Tomorrow
Thursday’s U.S. session is expecting to see a fair amount of reports, including jobless claims, pending home sales and durable goods reports, but these reports aren’t expected to have much impact on the dollar, nor are they expected to rock sentiment regarding the Fed rate hike. Instead, traders are looking towards Friday’s U.S. growth figures report as a key indicator regarding the rate hike. Analysts are also looking toward the upcoming U.S. election which analysts are expecting to cause significant volatility in the markets
Oil Prices
Oil prices failed to bounce back on Thursday despite positive data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showing that stockpiles fell 553,000 barrels in the previous week. Reuters attributed oil’s flat trading to continuing concerns about whether OPEC will cut its production levels in next month’s meeting. U.S. crude futures traded at $49.18 per barrel on Thursday after a 1.6 percent decline during Wednesday’s U.S. session. Brent prices, which suffered the same loss on Wednesday, were up 0.04 percent to $50 per barrel.