The US Dollar faced significant losses against major currencies for the second day on Thursday. Still, it stabilized early Friday, with the US Dollar Index hovering below 103.00, marking a weekly loss of over 1%. The focus shifted to the release of the February jobs report by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, which includes Nonfarm Payrolls, Unemployment Rate, and wage inflation figures.
On Thursday, the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield declined weekly, dropping below 4.1%. Meanwhile, Wall Street’s main indexes posted substantial gains, with the S&P 500 Index hitting a new all-time high. Early Friday, US stock index futures traded flat, and the 10-year yield consolidated its losses below 4.1%.
Forecasts for the US Nonfarm Payrolls anticipate a rise of 200,000 in February, following January’s increase of 353,000. The Unemployment Rate is expected to remain at 3.7%, while annual wage inflation may dip slightly to 4.4% from 4.5%.
In Germany, data released early Friday showed a 0.2% monthly increase in the Producer Price Index, rebounding from a 0.8% decline in December. Additionally, Industrial Production expanded by 1% in January, surpassing market expectations for a 0.6% expansion.
On Thursday, the European Central Bank (ECB) kept its monetary policy unchanged as anticipated but revised its inflation and growth forecasts to lower. ECB President Christine Lagarde mentioned that discussions about dialing back the restrictive stance had just begun and emphasized the need for more data until June to confidently assess reaching the inflation goal. Despite a slight dip during the ECB event, EUR/USD regained strength on broad USD weakness, getting its highest level since mid-January, just above 1.0950. GBP/USD also benefited from USD selling pressure, climbing above 1.2800 for the first time in 2024 and remaining stable on Friday.
USD/JPY declined nearly 1% on Thursday due to falling US yields and USD weakness, with the pair trading just below 148.00.
Gold reached a new record high above $2,160 on Thursday before slightly retracting early Friday. XAU/USD posted a nearly 4% increase for the week, poised to end the third consecutive week in positive territory.