The US Dollar was able to maintain upward momentum and firmed during London trade on Thursday. The greenback has been rallying in recent weeks, largely due to the efforts of the Federal Reserve Bank to ensure that there is enough liquidity in the monetary system for any central bank that wants to swap their currency for the Dollar. Markets are still viewing the greenback as a safe haven, especially after the US President cautioned Americans of the strong possibility of very painful weeks ahead given the spread of the Coronavirus in the US. Healthcare officials have said that the US government's failure to mobilize early on when the President had first learned of the virus has resulted in the mismanagement of the efforts.
In London trading as of 11:08 am, the EUR/USD was trading at $1.0937, a loss of 0.0813%; the pair has ranged from a session low of $1.09145 to a peak of $1.09705. The GBP/USD was higher at $1.2459, a gain of 0.0608% and off the session high of $1.24643. The USD/JPY was higher at 107.3080 Yen, a gain of 0.18%, moving off the session peak of 107.577 Yen.
US Labor Data takes Focus
Market players will be turning to the US for news on the labor market there. The US Labor Department will be releasing its numbers of claims for unemployment benefits. Last week, the numbers of new filings hit a record high; analysts are forecasting this week's numbers to have grown to 3.5 million, up from 3.28 million last week. Continuing claims are also likely to have surged to 4.8 million, up from 1.8 million. On Friday, the non-farms payroll report will provide a glimpse of the jobs market; analysts are predicting that new private sector jobs will have contracted by 100,000, and that the unemployment rate will have jumped to 3.8% from 3.5%.