U.S. employers hired at a strong pace in March, adding 236,000 jobs that pushed unemployment down to 3.5%, signaling labor market resilience that will keep the Federal Reserve on track to raise rates again next month.
“In my view the pendulum of market sentiment is going to swing back in favor of a Fed rate hike early next month,” said Marc Chandler, chief market strategist at Bannockburn Global Forex in New York, noting that momentum indicators for dollar currency pairs are “overstretched,” and likely to favor near-term dollar strength.
The dollar index was last up 0.53% against a basket of currencies at 102.55 after reaching 102.81, the highest since April 3. The euro fell 0.36% to $1.0859 after dropping to $1.08315, the lowest since April 3.
Consumer price data on Wednesday, this week’s major U.S. economic focus, is expected to show headline inflation rose by 0.3% in March, while core inflation increased 0.4%.
Americans said last month that…
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