Here is what you need to know on Friday, March 8:
The US Dollar suffered large losses against its major rivals for the second consecutive day on Thursday before stabilizing early Friday. The US Dollar Index was last seen fluctuating below 103.00, losing more than 1% on a weekly basis. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics will publish February jobs report ahead of the weekend, which will feature Nonfarm Payrolls, Unemployment Rate and wage inflation figures.
The benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield extended its weekly slide on Thursday and declined below 4.1%. In the meantime, Wall Street's main indexes registered strong gains, while the S&P 500 Index reached a new all-time high at the closing bell. Early Friday, US stock index futures trade flat and the 10-year yield consolidates weekly losses below 4.1%.
US Dollar price this week
The table below shows the percentage change of US Dollar (USD) against listed major currencies this week. US Dollar was the weakest against the Australian Dollar.
| USD | EUR | GBP | CAD | AUD | JPY | NZD | CHF | |
| USD | -0.95% | -1.17% | -0.78% | -1.56% | -1.44% | -1.15% | -0.70% | |
| EUR | 0.95% | -0.22% | 0.16% | -0.59% | -0.49% | -0.19% | 0.25% | |
| GBP | 1.16% | 0.23% | 0.37% | -0.39% | -0.26% | 0.02% | 0.47% | |
| CAD | 0.78% | -0.14% | -0.37% | -0.75% | -0.65% | -0.36% | 0.09% | |
| AUD | 1.52% | 0.60% | 0.37% | 0.75% | 0.10% | 0.39% | 0.84% | |
| JPY | 1.42% | 0.48% | 0.22% | 0.62% | -0.13% | 0.27% | 0.72% | |
| NZD | 1.13% | 0.19% | -0.03% | 0.36% | -0.41% | -0.28% | 0.45% | |
| CHF | 0.69% | -0.28% | -0.47% | -0.09% | -0.84% | -0.73% | -0.45% |
The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the Euro from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the Japanese Yen, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent EUR (base)/JPY (quote).
Nonfarm Payrolls in the US are forecast to rise by 200,000 in February following the impressive 353,000 increase recorded in January. The Unemployment Rate is seen holding steady at 3.7% in the same period and the annual wage inflation is expected to edge lower to 4.4% from 4.5%.
The data from Germany showed early Friday that the Producer Price Index rose by 0.2% on a monthly basis following the 0.8% decline recorded in December. On a positive note, Industrial Production expanded by 1% in January, surpassing the market expectation for an expansion of 0.6%.
On Thursday, the European Central Bank (ECB) left monetary policy settings unchanged as expected but revised inflation and growth forecasts lower. In the post-meeting press conference, ECB President Christine Lagarde noted that they have just started discussing the dialing-back of the restrictive stance and said that they will have more data to assess until June to be "sufficiently confident" about reaching the inflation goal. Although EUR/USD edged lower during the ECB event, it regained its traction on broad-based USD weakness and reached its highest level since mid-January above 1.0950. The pair stays in a consolidation phase slightly below 1.0950 in the early European session on Friday.
EUR/USD flatlines near 1.0950, US payrolls eyed.
GBP/USD benefited from the selling pressure surrounding the USD and advanced above 1.2800 for the first time in 2024. The pair holds steady near that level in the European morning on Friday.
USD/JPY fell nearly 1% on Thursday, pressured by declining US yields and USD weakness. The pair was last seen trading a few pips below 148.00.
Japanese Yen rallies to 148.00 against USD as BoJ officials lift rate hike bets.
Gold reached a new record high above $2,160 on Thursday before retreating slightly early Friday. XAU/USD is up nearly 4% this week and remains on track to close the third consecutive week in positive territory.
US February Nonfarm Payrolls Preview: Analyzing Gold price reaction to NFP surprises.
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Another sign of the good health of the US economy came in response to firm flash US Manufacturing and Services PMIs, which in turn reinforced further the already strong performance of the US Dollar, relegating EUR/USD to the 1.0400 neighbourhood on Friday.
GBP/USD remains depressed near 1.2520 on stronger Dollar
Poor results from the UK docket kept the British pound on the back foot on Thursday, hovering around the low-1.2500s in a context of generalized weakness in the risk-linked galaxy vs. another outstanding day in the Greenback.
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Eurozone PMI sounds the alarm about growth once more
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