Around 10:20 p.m., the greenback was down 1.06% once morest the British currency, at 1.2501 dollars.
The dollar was once more jostled Tuesday following the publication of macroeconomic indicators showing a deterioration of the situation in the United States, which decrease, in the eyes of forex traders, the probability of further rate hikes from the Federal Reserve (Fed).
The greenback fell to 1.2515 dollars for a pound, a first for ten months. It also fell to 1.0973 dollars for one euro, the lowest for a month.
Around 8:20 p.m. GMT, the dollar was down 1.06% once morest the British currency, at 1.2501 dollars.
Already poorly oriented, the “greenback”, one of the nicknames of the American currency, took a new blow with the publication of the number of job offers in the United States, which dropped to 9.9 million in February , according to the Department of Labor, below 10 million for the first time since May 2021.
“This is an indication that the labor market slowdown may be accelerating,” Matthew Martin of Oxford Economics said in a note.
“Even though the figure dates from February”, more than a month ago, the indicator was mentioned by the chairman of the Fed, Jerome Powell “as a data to follow closely”, recalled Mazen Issa, of TD Securities.
This picture of the labor market has been added to several other indicators, unveiled in recent hours, which paint a darker picture of the American economy.
Industrial goods orders fell 0.7% in February, month on month, following falling 2.1% the previous month.
On Monday, the ISM index of activity in the manufacturing sector had fallen much more than expected, to 46.3%, once morest 47.7%, showing a more marked contraction in the economy (a figure below 50 is equivalent to a decline in activity).
After seeing several lights turn amber, operators have adjusted their expectations and are now mainly counting on a monetary status quo at the next Fed meeting in early May, which would mean that the tightening cycle is over.
They also foresee at least three rate cuts by the end of 2023, which contributes to weakening the greenback.
Like the Bank of Canada in March, and perhaps soon the Fed, the Australian central bank (RBA) chose on Tuesday to leave its main interest rate unchanged, a decision which aims to give it time to assess the impact on the Australian economy of ten successive increases.
The Australian dollar was immediately penalized following this announcement and fell 0.51% once morest the greenback, at 1.4812 per US dollar, despite the bad day of the “greenback”.