The US Dollar was finally seeing some recovery after struggling for traction earlier in the Asian trading session. That comes on the back of growing speculation that the Federal Reserve Bank is not likely to continue to project a hawkish outlook into 2019. Analysts and market players both believe that the Fed will pause its tightening cycle not long after they give the green light on the expected December rate hike at their next policy meeting. What is worrying markets is the steep declines in yields for US Treasury instruments, suggesting the strong likelihood that the US economy could soon be heading for a significant downturn.
As reported at 10:30 am (JST) in Tokyo, the USD/JPY was trading flat at 112.7170 Japanese Yen. Remaining in Asia, the AUD/USD was trading lower at $0.722, down 0.16% while the NZD/USD was trading at $0.6878, down 0.03%.
Markets to Focus on NFP Data
In the hours ahead, markets will focus on the release of the November Non-Farms Labor Report from the United States Labor Department. The latest poll shows that analysts believe new private sector jobs will have fallen to 200,000, down from 250,000 in October. The unemployment rate is predicted to remain unchanged at 3.7%; analysts also have predicted that the average hourly earnings will be flat at 3.1%. The Federal Reserve has a mandate to ensure full employment while maintaining price stability, so any data which impacts one or the other of their criteria is deemed a market moving event.