The US Dollar Index struck a fresh 7-week peak as investors look to today’s release of private sector jobs data from the US. The greenback also found broad support on hopes that US tax reforms which were campaigned for by President Trump might finally be showing some progress. On Thursday, the US Congress moved along a Republican-led bill to overhaul US tax code; they also approved the 2018 fiscal budget which included tax cuts for the rich and spending cuts on numerous social programs, despite Trump’s promise to keep those intact.
As reported at 10:56 am (JST) in Tokyo, the EUR/USD was trading flat at $1.17; the pair has ranged from a session trough of $1.16980 and a peak of $1.17156. The GBP/USD was down 0.19% and trading at $1.3094, off the session low of $1.3086. The USD/JPY was up 0.04% and trading at 112.826 Yen, off from the session peak of 112.885 Yen.
Economic Data Lifts Dollar
US data also helped to drive the Dollar’s forward momentum. On Thursday, it was reported that factory goods orders for September improved to 1.2% against expectations of a rise to 1.0%, well above August’s -3.3%. It was also reported that core capital goods orders for August was underreported and actually stronger than initially reported, suggesting that the economic drag as a result of two hurricanes in Texas and Florida might be offset by robust spending.