By Gregor Stuart Hunter SINGAPORE (Reuters) -The dollar remained under pressure on Friday as a surge in U.S. jobless claims and a modest tick up in inflation kept investors zeroed in on likely Federal
US Dollar Gains Slightly Amid Negative Outlook Ahead of Fed Meeting
US Dollar Performance and Economic Indicators
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
Impact of Jobless Claims
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar drifted higher on Friday, a day after falling on a surge in U.S. jobless claims and a modest inflation uptick, ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting next week that is likely to cut interest rates after a roughly nine-month hiatus.
Consumer Sentiment Trends
The greenback rose 0.2% to 147.53 yen, rising for three straight weeks. The dollar firmed earlier on Friday after a U.S.-Japanese joint statement affirmed exchange rates should be "market determined" and that excess volatility and disorderly moves in exchange rates were undesirable.
Federal Reserve Rate Expectations
The dollar index was little changed at 97.59, but stayed on track to post a weekly fall of 0.1% for its second consecutive weekly decline.
John Velis, Americas macro strategist at BNY in New York, said Friday's gains were more about position-squaring ahead of the weekend.
"The broader picture is still quite negative for the dollar on a variety of measures," Velis said. "One, of course, is the Fed now beginning to cut rates. The other is, we still see hedging behavior taking place, so foreign investors buying U.S. assets and selling the dollar to hedge it, which is going to keep pressure on the dollar."
Data showing U.S. consumer sentiment falling for a second straight month in September weighed slightly on the greenback.
The University of Michigan said on Friday its consumer sentiment index fell to 55.4 this month, the lowest since May, from a final reading of 58.2 in August. Economists polled by Reuters had been expecting a reading of 58.0, little changed from the month before.
"If the Fed delivers the rate cut that is widely expected next week, and they signal that more rate cuts are coming, businesses may find optimism that they have an opportunity to recapture margin lost to tariffs, and consequently they can increase their capacity to increase headcount," wrote Tom Simons, chief U.S. economist at Jefferies, in a email after the data.
On Thursday, data showed the biggest weekly increase in four years in the number of Americans filing new applications for jobless benefits.
That overshadowed U.S. consumer inflation data for August, which showed prices rising at the fastest pace in seven months but with increases still modest and broadly in line with expectations.
While the mixed data might add some wrinkles to the Fed's policy deliberations next week, investors are mostly focused on rate cut prospects.
Pricing of Fed fund futures indicates that the market believes the Fed is certain to cut its key interest rate by 25 basis points (bps) on September 17.
However, traders have reined in bets on a larger 50 bps rate cut next month, with pricing implying a shallower path of easing before the end of the year than anticipated earlier, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield rose 4.9 bps to 4.06%. On Thursday, the yield fell below 4% for the first time since April.
The euro was flat versus the dollar at $1.1736, a day after rising, as traders curbed their bets on another European Central Bank rate cut this cycle to bet on another move at less than 50%.
The ECB kept its key interest rate on hold at 2% for a second straight meeting on Thursday, with President Christine Lagarde saying that the euro zone remains in a "good place" and that risks to the economy had become more balanced than before.
Fitch Ratings, meanwhile, is expected to give its verdict on French public finances after Friday's markets close following the confidence motion on September 8.
"Going explicitly against the direction of its (Fitch) model and 'manually' downgrading the rating would require the agency to come to the conclusion that the balance of power between stakeholders of public funds has tilted further away from financial creditors since the last rating decision in spring," Citi analysts wrote in a research report.
Among other currencies, sterling was little changed at $1.3564, after data showed the British economy stagnated in July, while the Australian dollar was a touch softer at US$0.6651, not far from a 10-month high.
Currency
bid
prices at
12
September
07:42
p.m. GMT
Descripti RIC Last U.S. Pct YTD Pct High Low
on Close Change Bid Bid
Previous
Session
Dollar 97.582 97.553 0.04% -10.05% 97.864 97.4
index 88
Euro/Doll 1.1737 1.1734 0.02% 13.37% $1.1748 $1.1
ar 702
Dollar/Ye 147.59 147.16 0.25% -6.25% 148.035 147.
n 23
Euro/Yen 173.24 172.74 0.29% 6.14% 173.44 172.
63
Dollar/Sw 0.7961 0.7958 0.01% -12.3% 0.7987 0.79
iss 56
Sterling/ 1.3563 1.3573 -0.06% 8.46% $1.3578 $1.3
Dollar 525
Dollar/Ca 1.3843 1.3833 0.09% -3.72% 1.3863 1.38
nadian 32
Aussie/Do 0.6648 0.6661 -0.18% 7.45% $0.6668 $0.6
llar 631
Euro/Swis 0.9343 0.9333 0.12% -0.53% 0.935 0.93
s 37
Euro/Ster 0.8651 0.8643 0.1% 4.58% 0.8664 0.86
ling 4
NZ 0.5956 0.5977 -0.32% 6.47% $0.5979 0.59
Dollar/Do 42
llar
Dollar/No 9.8573 9.8478 0.1% -13.27% 9.9187 9.85
rway 09
Euro/Norw 11.5693 11.5627 0.06% -1.7% 11.625 11.5
ay 63
Dollar/Sw 9.3227 9.3011 0.23% -15.38% 9.3592 9.30
eden 59
Euro/Swed 10.9432 10.9194 0.22% -4.57% 10.9615 10.9
en 215
(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Additional reporting by Samuel Indyk in London and Gregor Stuart Hunter in Singapore; Editing by Joe Bavier, Richard Chang and Nia Williams)
