Dollar steady as focus shifts to Fed meeting

New York, MarketWatch, (13/9) — The U.S. dollar was little changed on Thursday, halting a win streak for the British pound and euro. The ICE dollar index, a measure of the greenback’s strength against six rivals, was essentially steady at 81.513 from 81.517 on Wednesday. The WSJ Dollar Index, which uses a slightly larger comparison base, was unchanged at 73.80. The dollar was temporarily boosted by an unexpected drop in weekly jobless claims for the week ended Sept. 7, which dropped by 31,000 to a seasonally adjusted 292,000, the Labor Department said. While that marked the first week below 300,000 claims since 2006, an official attributed the size of the decline to unprocessed claims from computer changes and the Labor Day holiday. A MarketWatch poll of economists expected a rise in claims to 330,000 from 323,000. The jobs report for August last week showed the economy added a less-than-expected 169,000 jobs,and revised lower the data for June and July. The Federal Reserve has said it would examine economic data closely in determining when and by how much to reduce monetary stimulus. The Fed’s two-day policy meeting is slated to end Wednesday. The euro edged down to $1.3298 from $1.3308 late Wednesday, while the pound fell slightly to $1.5803 from $1.5823. Both currencies had gained for the four consecutive sessions before Thursday. Still, the pound has jumped 1.1% against the greenback this week and 2% for the month on the back of stronger data. “Sterling is the last currency you want to sell against the dollar,” said Ashraf Laidi, chief global strategist at City Index Ltd. Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said Thursday the forward-guidance policy was working for households and businesses, even as markets have been doubting the central bank’s commitment to keep rates low in light of stronger data. The Bank of England has said it would only consider raising interest rates when unemployment falls below 7%. British yields and the pound have made gains of late, especially after better-than-expected U.K. unemployment data showed a decline in the unemployment rate to 7.7% from 7.8%. That helped sterling reach its highest level since Jan. 31 on Wednesday. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/australia-dollar-slides-after-weak-jobs-report-2013-09-12