The U.S. dollar drifted lower against its major counterparts on Friday after data showing a drop in wage growth and a contraction in U.S. service sector activity raised hopes the Federal Reserve will continue to slow their aggressive pace on interest rate hikes.
The report from the Institute for Supply Management showed U.S. service sector activity unexpectedly contracted in the month of December. The ISM said its services PMI tumbled to 49.6 in December from 56.5 in November, with a reading below 50 indicating a contraction. Economists had expected the index to edge down to 55.0.
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Forex News
May 01, 2026 15:54 ET Central banks dominated the economics news flow this week with almost all major ones announcing their latest policy decisions and many boosted expectations for a rate hike in June. In other news, several countries released the preliminary data for first quarter economic growth. In the U.S., comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell were also in focus as his term ends this month.