ECB Unchanged, Markets Eye Jobs
The dollar is slightly lower against the majors in the Thursday session, drifting past the 1.51-handle versus the euro and around 0.93 against the Australian dollar. Weekly jobless claims, released earlier today was slightly better than expected, drifting lower to 457k from 466k a week earlier and besting estimates for an increase to 480k. The November non-manufacturing ISM report was worst than forecast, falling beneath the key 50-level to 48.7 and missing calls for an improvement to 51.5 from 50.6 in October. Meanwhile, Q3 productivity slipped to 8.1% from the preliminary reading of 9.5%.
Markets will focus on Friday's US jobs data, due out at 8:30 AM. The November unemployment rate is seen holding steady at its 26-year high at 10.2% while the non-farm payrolls report is expected to improve a loss of 130k jobs from 190k jobs shed in the previous month.