The foreign-exchange market searched for direction Thursday, with a popular gauge of the U.S. dollar retreating slightly.
Dollar traders were awaiting a deluge of U.S. economic data, including ADP private-sector employment numbers at 8.15 a.m. Eastern, and jobless claims for the week ended Sept. 1 at 8.30 a.m. Eastern, ahead of Friday’s official August jobs data.
The ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, +0.00% was down 0.1% at 95.115, taking course on finishing the week in slightly negative territory.
Read: Opinion: Trump’s policies will displace the dollar
The buck’s major rival — the euro EURUSD, +0.0344% — was little changed in negative territory versus the greenback, after German manufacturing orders for July undercut expectations. For the month, the consensus had seen orders grow by 1.8%, but they instead contracted by almost 1%, which some market participants characterized as “distressing”.
The British pound GBPUSD, +0.2634% and Japanese yen USDJPY, -0.23% were the best performers among major currencies. Sterling had a turbulent trading day Tuesday, rallying more than 1% from a near two-week low on reports that the U.K. could get away with a less detailed Brexit deal.
The pound last bought $1.2931, compared with $1.2906.
On the trade front, a fresh bout of U.S. tariffs on another $200 billion worth of Chinese imports is due to take effect on Thursday, all the while the U.S. and Canada are chugging along on the negotiating table to salvage the North American Free Trade Agreement. President Donald Trump hinted Wednesday, that the trade deal could come as early as the weekend.
China’s yuan was little changed early Thursday, with one dollar buying 6.8319 yuan in Beijing USDCNY, -0.0073% and 6.8418 yuan in the more freely trading offshore market USDCNH, -0.0468%
Similarly, the U.S.-Canadian dollar pair USDCAD, +0.0835% was also little changed from late Wednesday, with the buck buying C$1.3184.
