The safe haven Japanese Yen fell versus the US Dollar, but the greenback failed to make any headway against the common currency Euro as FX traders await minutes from the Federal Reserve Bank which will be released later today, and Friday’s release of non-farms payroll data. Traders are looking for confirmation that the Fed intends to dismiss the current soft inflation data as transitory. While less significant than the upcoming report, today’s release of ADP private sector labor data tends to mirror the government’s report; currently, analysts are expecting ADP to report that June’s new jobs fell to 185,000 from 253,000 in May. The forecast for the NFP is more robust, with analysts predicting a rise to 180,000 from May’s 138,000.
As reported at 11:13 am (BST) in London, the USD/JPY was trading at 113.651 Yen, a gain of 0.30%; the pair had earlier hit a session peak of 113.682 Yen, while the low was set at 112.822 Yen. The EUR/USD was trading at $1.132, down 0.24% and off the session trough of $1.13121 while the high for the day is currently at $1.13691.
Pound Outlook Shaky
In the UK, the Pound Sterling was trading near to a 1-week trough $1.2906, down 0.14%. Analysts say that there will be short term pressure on the Pound as investors assess the Bank of England’s recent hawkish posturing which some feel has not yet been justified. The economy is still struggling for traction; the last data shows that the reading for the Markit PMI for the services sector fell to 53.4, slightly below the forecasts of 53.5 and off of May’s 53.8. On Monday, the Markit PMI for the manufacturing sector unexpectedly dipped to 54.3 against the forecast of a 56.3 and a downward revision for May to 56.3 (from 56.7).