Home Daily Commentaries Focus turns to US labour market report

Focus turns to US labour market report

Daily Currency Update

It was a quiet day for the pound yesterday, unlike many other European currencies. Some European currencies weakened due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and a speech by Vladimir Putin in which he stated that European countries must pay for their gas in Roubles. The pound has been less reactive to ongoing talks between Russia and Ukraine this week.

Today could be a quiet day for the pound with no top tier data or Bank of England speeches due. GBP/USD remains around the 1.3130 mark while GBP/EUR sits at around 1.1875.

Key Movers

The euro fell on Thursday with investors turning their attention to rising economic tensions in Russia and Europe. President, Vladimir Putin, reaffirmed his demand for certain European nations to pay for their supply of Russian gas in Roubles. There is a concern that Russia may soon block energy exports into European countries. This and the ongoing crisis led to the euro being down around 0.52% vs. the pound during Thursday’s session. The pair currently sits at around 1.1853.

This euro weakness helped push up the US dollar yesterday. The dollar index – a measure of the US dollar against a basket of other major currencies – lifted from weekly lows of 97.7 to 98.30. Against other major currencies the US dollar had a mixed day, but attention is now placed on the US labour market report due later today. The forecasted figure is for 492K new jobs to have been taken up, and a figure much higher than this could generally be considered good for currency. If the data comes in above expectation it could provide even more support to the US Federal Reserve to increase interest rates over May and June respectively.

Expected Ranges

  • GBP/USD: 1.3085 - 1.3190 ▲
  • GBP/EUR: 1.1815 - 1.1925 ▲
  • GBP/AUD: 1.7430 - 1.7590 ▼
  • EUR/USD: 1.1015 - 1.1095 ▼