| Time | Country | Event | Period | Previous value | Forecast | Actual |
|---|
| 08:55 | Germany | Unemployment Change | December | 21 | 20 | 5 |
| 08:55 | Germany | Unemployment Rate s.a. | December | 5.8% | 5.9% | 5.9% |
USD strengthened against other major currencies in the European session on Wednesday as investors waited for today’s release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s December policy meeting and several crucial labour-market reports in the coming days.
The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), measuring the U.S. currency's value relative to a basket of foreign currencies, rose by 0.24% from the previous close to 102.45, hitting a more than two-week high.
USD firmed against its global peers on Tuesday - the first trading day of 2024 - as investors trimmed their bets on the scale of the interest-rate cuts from the US central bank this year. Against this backdrop, the DXY index jumped by 0.8% yesterday, recording its biggest one-day gain in more than nine months, fueled by worries about regional bank collapse.
The touched its five-month low of 100.61 last week as signs of cooling inflation in the U.S. and the dovish messages from the Fed’s policymakers after their final meeting of 2023 bolstered markets to heighten their expectations of interest rate decreases by the US rate-setters in 2024.
Later in the day, investors will focus on two important U.S. releases - the US November job openings and labour turnover survey (15:00 GMT) and the minutes from the Fed’s December meeting (19:00 GMT). These releases will be followed by a set of other US jobs data in the next two days. Markets will scrutinize all these reports for clues on the actual number of interest-rate reductions by the US central bank this year.