The dollar edged higher against the euro Wednesday, stabilizing after declining sharply over the past week.
The ICE U.S. Dollar Index was up 0.2% at 95.273 as the buck made gains against the euro. The greenback was flat against the pound at $1.3339 as investors awaited Thursday’s Bank of England meeting and the central bank’s quarterly inflation report.
It remained steady after the ADP’s private-payrolls report showed 179,000 jobs were created last month, surpassing expectations for 170,000 new jobs from a FactSet survey of analysts. The ADP data are seen as an early indicator ahead of the Labor Department’s monthly jobs figure, which is expected Friday. However, the report isn’t viewed as accurate as the official Friday report.
“The market is coming off a few days of heavy dollar selling,” said Valentin Marinov, chief G-10 currency strategist at Crédit Agricole. “The big event for the dollar will remain [the July] payrolls.”
On Friday, the dollar logged its worst weekly performance since April after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged and a reading on second-quarter economic growth was much weaker than expected.
Investors on Wednesday will also have data on services sector activity to consider, and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans is slated to speak to the media at 1 p.m. Eastern time.
