The US Dollar touched a 1-month peak versus the Japanese Yen after Steven Mnuchin, the Secretary of the US Treasury, commented on the possible issuance of ultra long bonds. According to an interview with Bloomberg, Mnuchin said that bonds issued with a maturity of more than 30 years “make sense.” According to a currency strategist in Tokyo, as a result the greenback is moving in sync with US Treasury yields, given a very enthusiastic bond market.
As reported at 11:17 am (BST) in London, the USD/JPY was trading at 112.294 Yen, up 0.41% and establishing a new high for the day; the pair’s session low was set at 111.79 Yen. The AUD/USD was down 0.02% to trade at $0.7525, while the NZD/USD the pair was at 0.6919, a gain of 0.12%.
US Jobs Figures Eyed
The Dollar struggled in Europe and the UK, however, with tepid US data failing to provide support for the greenback. Ahead in the week are tomorrow’s release of ADP labor data which markets use to gauge Friday’s more important NFP report; currently, analysts polled expect to see a decline to 180,000 new jobs for April, down from the previous 263,000. With the NFP, analysts still expect 180,00 new jobs but that would be an improvement from March’s dismal figure of only 98,000. Those estimates are likely to change with tomorrow’s release of the ADP figures.