- The EUR/USD has pulled back from its two-month peak of 1.1495 reached on Thursday.
- The initial weekly unemployment claims in the U.S. increased to 247,000, surpassing the anticipated 235,000.
- The European Central Bank (ECB) implemented a widely expected rate cut of 25 basis points on Thursday.
The EUR/USD continues to decline after reaching a two-month high of 1.1495 on June 5. Currently, it’s trading around 1.1440 during Friday’s Asian trading hours. Traders are attentive to upcoming U.S. non-farm payroll data, which added 130,000 jobs in May, but is expected to show a decrease compared to April’s 177,000. The unemployment rate is projected to remain steady at 4.2%.
The U.S. Department of Labor has reported that initial weekly unemployment claims rose to 247,000, which is higher than the expected 235,000. Meanwhile, on Thursday, U.S. ADP private sector employment saw a modest increase of 37,000 jobs in May, significantly below the market forecast of 115,000, with April’s numbers being revised to a 60,000 increase from the previous 62,000.
President Donald Trump recently spoke with China’s President Xi Jinping. He described the conversation as productive and expressed a readiness to continue tariff negotiations. However, it seems there have been challenges in maintaining a stable relationship with Chinese trade officials. Just last week, Trump accused China of breaching the armistice terms concerning tariffs after the Washington Being Agreement temporally reduced mutual tariffs at a Geneva meeting.
On Thursday, the ECB made a 25 basis point cut to interest rates, lowering them from 2.25% to 2.0%, which was largely anticipated. They updated their growth and inflation projections and emphasized a meeting-by-meeting approach. ECB President Christine Lagarde stated in a post-meeting press conference that monetary policy is “well positioned,” but acknowledged that the current outlook is more uncertain than usual. She also hinted that the central bank is nearing the conclusion of its easing cycle.
