EUR/USD: Dollar Gains Ground Against Euro as Global Markets Enter Jittery September

Stocks sold off globally over slowdown anxiety. The run for safety didn’t hit forex markets with major currencies staying fairly stable.

• The EURUSD pair shifted lower on Tuesday but bounced back Wednesday after a wave of selling swept global markets. Starting from the US, a steep drop spread across America’s biggest companies and reached Japan’s session, leading to a 4% drop in the broad-based Nikkei. Forex markets, however, were barely rattled as currency trading was behaving properly and without any major jitters.
• The euro-dollar exchange rate dropped 0.2% on Tuesday to $1.1026 but picked itself up to trade above $1.1050 early Wednesday morning. The major currency pair has been in an ascending trending channel since April when it bottomed out at $1.06. The trend peaked to a 6% rise to a one-year high of $1.12 in late August. Prospects of lower interest rates have knocked demand for the US dollar as the American currency will yield less in a lower-rate environment.
• Looking ahead, traders are bracing for more volatility this week. It’s the week of the monthly jobs report — the nonfarm payrolls report for August is slated for release Friday. Anxious investors will be watching for 164,000 new hires tapped to join the economy for the past month. The figure will most likely influence the pace of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cuts. Some are calling for a 25bps trim while others expect a jumbo-sized 50bps slash.