Is It The End of Dollar’s Decline?

The U.S. currency rebounded sharply yesterday before the end of this week’s session as a better than expected jobs report started speculations that interest rates in the U.S. will be hiked by the Federal Reserve before most analysts previously estimated.

A surprisingly good non-farm payrolls report indicating a decline of just 11k employment places, from a previous reading of -111k, brought optimism towards the U.S. currency providing support for the dollar to post its highest advance in 11 months, as traders speculate that the beginning of an interest rate hikes series is likely to be started by the Federal Reserve as employment plays a major role when considering a nation’s economic recovery. The yen was one of the biggest losers versus the dollar in this week, and also declined versus all 16 major currencies as traders indicate it will be the main source of funding for carry-trade operations.

If speculations regarding interest rate hikes in the U.S. will be confirmed by the Federal Reserve, it is likely that the U.S. currency will gain terrain versus the euro and higher-yielding options, according to analysts.
It is unlikely that rates will be raised in the next Dec. 16 meeting, but the Fed policy outlook improved drastically among traders after such a positive report.

EUR/USD closed at 1.4880, a sharp decline from the intraday rate of 1.5084. AUD/USD closed at 0.9149 from 0.9276.

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