WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. dollar shed ground against its major counterparts on Wednesday after data showed a drop in job openings in the month of July, and comments from Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic raised the possibility of a larger interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve this month.
Bostic said that the Fed must not maintain a restrictive policy stance for too long, intensifying speculation that the central bank may pivot towards easy policy soon.
'I believe we cannot wait until inflation has actually fallen all the way to 2 percent to begin removing restriction because that would risk labor market disruptions that could inflict unnecessary pain and suffering,' he added.
In economic news, the Labor Department released a report this morning showing a bigger than expected decrease by job openings in the U.S. in the month of July.
The Labor Department said job openings edged to 7.67 million in July from a downwardly revised 7.91 million in June.
Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 8.10 million from the 8.18 million originally reported for the previous month.
A report from the Commerce Department said factory orders spiked by 5% in July after plunging by 3.3% in June. Economists had expected factory orders to surge by 4.7%.
The most highly anticipated event of the week comes Friday, with the release of the August jobs report. Economists currently expect employment to climb by 165,000 jobs in August after an increase of 114,000 jobs in July.
The unemployment rate is expected to edge down to 4.2% after rising to 4.3% in July, reaching its highest level since October 2021.
The dollar index dropped to 101.24 around late morning, and was trading at 101.31 a little while ago, down 0.5% from the previous close.
Against the Euro, the dollar weakened to 1.1083 from 1.1044, and against Pound Sterling, it traded at 1.3148, compared to 1.3114 on Tuesday.
The dollar dropped sharply against the Japanese currency to 143.77 yen a unit, giving up nearly 1.2%. Against the Aussie, the dollar eased to 0.6723 from 0.6710.
The Swiss franc firmed to 0.8465 a unit of the greenback, gaining nearly 0.5%. The Loonie strengthened to 1.3511 against the U.S. dollar from 1.3552.
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