Forex Top Story
11/5/2009 8:03 AM ET
(RTTNews) -
The dollar was on pause versus most other majors but moved lower against the sterling Thursday morning in New York as traders braced for a key prelude to tomorrow's monthly jobs report.
The sterling found support as the Bank of England retained its key interest rate as expected and raised the size of the quantitative easing measures by GBP 25 billion to pull the economy out of recession.
The Monetary Policy Committee, led by Governor Mervyn King increased the size of the asset purchase scheme by GBP 25 billion to GBP 200 billion. The central bank was widely expected to raise the QE measures by GBP 50
billion.
Also, the European Central Bank kept its key rate unchanged at 1 percent, as expected.
Yesterday, the Federal Reserve once again left interest rates at essentially zero percent on Wednesday, despite what it described as a "pick up" in economic activity.
The central bank also repeated its assessment that "exceptionally" low rates will continue for an "extended period."
The dollar dropped to 1.6635 versus the sterling, its lowest in nearly two weeks. With the loss, the dollar tested a 2-month low of 1.6693.
The buck was unable to fight back versus the euro after suffering steep losses during the previous session. The buck stayed within a cent of yesterday's 10-day low of 1.4908 and near October's yearly low of 1.5059.
Meanwhile, the buck fought back from early losses against against the yen to fetch 90.40 approaching mid-morning. A month ago, the dollar tested a 1995 low of 87.08 before finding support.
The Labor Department is due to release its customary jobless claims report for the week ended October 31st at 8:30 AM ET. Economists estimate that claims fell to 520,000 in the recent reporting week.
The Labor Department is scheduled to release its monthly non-farm payroll report at 8:30 AM. Economists estimate that the U.S. economy lost 175,000 jobs in October and look for an unemployment rate of 9.9%.
by RTT Staff Writer
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