The U.S. Dollar lost ground in London trading today ahead of the 12:30 p.m. (GMT) release of the non-farm payroll report from the U.S. Labor Department. Investors expect the report to show that job losses in the U.S. are slowing their pace, which has prompted them to take on additional risk. It’s believed that the report will show that job losses neared 590,000 in April, a decrease from the 663,000 reported the previous month. Versus a basket of major currencies, the Dollar Index fell to a near 1½ month low yesterday, trading at 83.424 .DXY. As reported at 5:21 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the Dollar was traded at 83.755 .DXY, a loss of about .2%.
European trade was quiet after the release of the results of the U.S. banking system stress tests; investors were not surprised by the results. The ECB’s move yesterday to cut a key interest rate by 25 basis points and to boost liquidity in the Euro Zone through purchase of €60 Billion in covered bonds was also no surprise to investors. The moves benefited the Euro yesterday, which traded at $1.3471 on the EBS platform, a 1-month high. As reported at 7:56 a.m. (GMT) today, the Euro was trading at $1.3403.