The dollar eased on Wednesday after private-sector U.S. jobs data stoked worries about the health of the labour market, with investors also bracing for an imminent U.S. government reopening that is expected to unleash a backlog of economic releases.
Overnight, payroll processor ADP said that U.S. firms were shedding more than 11,000 jobs a week through late October, underscoring how hiring trends are evolving on a week-to-week basis and pointing to further weakening in a labour market being closely monitored by Federal Reserve policymakers.
The dollar fell in the aftermath of the data release and struggled to recover its losses in early Asia trade on Wednesday, as traders once again ramped up bets of a Fed cut in December.
The euro was steady at $1.1586 and sterling distanced itself further from a seven-month trough to last trade $1.3149.
Against a basket of currencies, the dollar languished near its lowest in more than a week and was last at 99.46.
"The alternative data, I think, overall points to a softer labour market picture... but whether we’re seeing a worsening deterioration in the U.S. labour market, I think that remains an open question," said Sim Moh Siong, a currency strategist at Bank of Singapore.
"I think the broad set of data suggests that the labour market is cooling, but only gradually so, and I think we should see some confirmation of that from the return of official data likely by next week, with the reopening of the U.S. government."
Source: Investing.com