(Bloomberg) -- A dollar gauge climbed and oil prices rallied after President Donald Trump said the US plans to launch fresh attacks on Iran within the next two to three weeks, despite also reiterating that the war is “very close” to completion. All currencies in the Group of 10 declined against the greenback Thursday.
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2% after two days of declines
- Applications for US unemployment benefits fell last week to one of the lowest levels in the last two years. Initial claims decreased by 9,000 to 202,000 in the week ended March 28, according to Labor Department data released Thursday
- The government’s jobs report due Friday is expected to show payrolls rebounded in March after a sharp drop a month earlier. Economists see the unemployment rate holding steady at 4.4%. The US and many other countries will be on holiday
- “We’re expecting that a good number of the jobs that were lost last month will be regained this month,” said Andrew Hazlett, a foreign-exchange trader at Monex Inc., explaining that it will be supportive of the dollar.
- Friday’s report “will give us some information” but the main signal is geopolitics and energy prices, said Aroop Chatterjee, a strategist at Wells Fargo
- “Strong data and resilient demand will present a more difficult tradeoff for the Fed as it confronts the implications of higher energy prices,” he said. “The bulk of data readings out of the US in recent weeks suggest that growth has remained stable”
- “A nervous market still collectively expects the crisis to be relatively short, even if it has already lasted longer than expected, and to have a temporary, rather than long-term economic impact on growth,” Kit Juckes, head of FX strategy at Societe Generale SA, wrote in a note. “Monetary tightening is expected, but only temporarily”
- “If the market is right that this will be a relatively short-lived crisis, AUD in particular, is at an attractive level,” he said. “Europe, on the other hand, is at a disadvantage and there are few reasons to be long GBP or EUR”
- EUR/USD fell 0.4% to 1.1546, while GBP/USD slipped 0.5% to 1.3196
- USD/CAD rose 0.3% to 1.3918
- Canada’s trade deficit widened to C$5.7 billion ($4.1 billion) in February − the largest shortfall since August − as imports reached a record high on increased gold purchases
- USD/CHF climbs 0.6% to 0.7987
- The Swiss franc hasn’t been playing its traditional haven role of late, even as the war in Iran keeps geopolitics fraught. Options trading suggests the anomaly won’t last
- USD/JPY rallied 0.4% to 159.37, up a second day
- AUD/USD dropped 0.3% to 0.6907
Reporting by Anya Andrianova
