As currency traders anticipate additional Eurozone monetary easing this week, U.S. dollar exchange traded funds are strengthening as the U.S. dollar index ascends to a two-month high.
The PowerShares DB U.S. Dollar Index Bullish Fund (NYSEArca: UUP) was up 0.3% Monday. UUP is down 0.2% year-to-date.
Traders are focused on the European Central Bank policy meeting Thursday and U.S. payroll May numbers due Friday, reports Daniel Bases for Reuters.
“The euro has been trading on the softer side in general as we go into the ECB meeting as there is some level of caution here,” Alan Ruskin, global head of G19 currency strategy at Deutsche Bank, said in the article. “Plenty of speculation that they don’t deliver enough monetary easing or that they deliver, but it is already priced in we fall into a ‘buy the rumor sell the fact’ scenario.”
ECB easing would depreciate the euro currency relative to the U.S. dollar.
“Soft inflation now reinforces the point of view that the ECB will remain dovish and remain ready to ease policy in the future,” Vassili Serebriakov, currency strategist at BNP Paribas, said in the article. “That’s negative for the euro.”
The U.S. dollar swung Monday after the ISM corrected its May manufacturing index for the second time to a higher-than-expected 55.4 from 54.9 in April, reports Carlos Torres for Bloomberg.
Dollar bulls are also jumping on the greenback as the U.S. dollar index broke through its 80.59 key resistance level, according to Kitco News. The index is now hovering around 80.63.