By Gregor Stuart Hunter
SINGAPORE, Jan 9 (Reuters) – The U.S. dollar advanced at the start of the Asian session on Friday, as traders awaited the release of the latest U.S. jobs report and braced for a forthcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision on President Donald Trump’s use of emergency tariff powers. The dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was up 0.2% at 98.883, rising for a third consecutive day. The looming U.S. non-farm payrolls report for December will dispel much of the data fog that persisted during the government shutdown, but analysts said nuances in the data may do little to clarify the path forward for interest rates. “The market is likely to show considerable tolerance to a weakish payrolls number,” analysts from ING wrote in a research report. “Barring a dramatic data print, the more impactful number is likely to be the unemployment rate.”
Weekly jobless claims data released on Thursday showed a marginal increase in applications for unemployment benefits.
Fed funds futures are pricing an implied 89% probability that the U.S. central bank holds interest rates at its next two-day meeting on January 27-28, compared to a 68% chance a month ago, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool. Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court could issue a ruling later in the global day which would determine whether Trump can invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs without congressional approval, potentially upending U.S. trade policy and throwing months of negotiations into disarray. Company executives, customs brokers and trade lawyers are preparing for a potential fight over obtaining some $150 billion in refunds from the U.S. government for duties already paid if he loses. Against the yen, the dollar was at 156.885 yen, little changed after data showed Japanese household spending unexpectedly grew in November from the year-earlier month, indicating that consumption accelerated before the Bank of Japan lifted its policy rate to a 30-year high in December. Governor Kazuo Ueda has said the BOJ would continue to raise borrowing costs if economic and price developments move in line with its forecasts. Against the Chinese yuan trading offshore in Hong Kong, the dollar was flat at 6.982 yuan as markets looked to the release of inflation data for December due in a few hours. Most other global currencies were little changed in early Asian trade. The euro was steady at $1.1657 ahead of the release of German trade data and retail sales figures for the euro zone due later today. The British pound edged 0.1% lower to $1.3436, the Australian dollar was flat at $0.6698, and the New Zealand dollar ticked down 0.1% to $0.5749. Bitcoin was down 0.2% at $91,002.39, while Ether slipped 0.4% to $3,104.38.
(Reporting by Gregor Stuart HunterEditing by Shri Navaratnam)
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