Dollar dips, then recovers, after weak private employment report...

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    • Dollar dips, then recovers, after weak private employment report
    • Yen shows appeal as safer haven
    • Kiwi continues to climb

    (Updates prices, market activity and comments; new byline, changes dateline, previous LONDON)

    The dollar recovered from a fall on Wednesday brought on by the release of an unexpectedly weak private employment report knocked down U.S. Treasury yields and may or may not have foreshadowed softness in jobs data due on Friday from the American government.

    After a steady day, the dollar index against major currencies =USD fell as much as 0.2% on the report before turning back up. It was up less than 0.1% on the day at 10:08 a.m. EDT (1408 GMT).

    The Japanese yen, often seen as a competing safe haven, was a big beneficiary with the dollar falling as low as 108.77. JPY=EBS

    The euro and British pound also gained against the greenback.

    The euro was last trading at $1.1859 EUR=EBS , off less than 0.1% for the day. Sterling rose 0.1% to $1.3930 GBP=D3 .

    The swings show how uneasy the currency markets are ahead of the next big catalyst that might show whether economies will grow so quickly that they fuel inflation or slow due to the continuing coronavirus pandemic.

    The initial downdraft came when the ADP National Employment Report showed U.S. private payrolls increased about half as much as economists had expected, likely constrained by shortages of workers and raw materials.

    "It was a fairly big disappointment," said Mazen Issa, senior currency strategist at TD Securities.

    The ADP report has a mixed record of predicting the government report, Issa said, but added, "the miss is substantial enough that the markets may be a little bit more nervous going into Friday's report."

    Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and other policy makers have recently emphasized that upcoming employment reports will be critical to the board's decisions about when and how to cut back on support for the economy.

    The ADP report does not capture changes in government employment.

    The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury US10YT=RR initially fell sharply and the 5-year yield slipped to its lowest since February. Those moves came after the ADP report and news that the government is considering reductions in debt issuance.

    Questions about the supply of Treasuries have been affecting yields and having spillover influence on the dollar.

    The dollar has lost value as declining yields have made strategists question whether the U.S. economy will grow as much as they had expected in light of the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19.

    Before the ADP report, the euro had been flat against the dollar, giving up initial gains on data that showed euro zone business activity surged in July, expanding at its fastest pace in 15 years.

    The New Zealand dollar made strong gains for the second consecutive day, after a drop in unemployment in the country raised expectations that rate hikes could begin within weeks.

    The kiwi was last up 0.6% against the U.S. dollar, at $0.7061 NZD=D3 .

    The country's central bank had said on Tuesday it would soon begin consulting on ways to tighten mortgage lending standards, as it tries to control an inflated housing market.

    ======================================================== 
    	Currency bid prices at 10:08AM (1408 GMT) 
    
     Description	  RIC		 Last		   U.S. Close  Pct Change	 YTD Pct	   High Bid	Low Bid 
    											  Previous				   Change					
    											  Session											  
     Dollar index	  =USD	   92.0890		92.0360	 +0.07%		 2.343%		+92.1960	+91.8140 
     Euro/Dollar	   EUR=EBS	$1.1859		$1.1865	 -0.05%		 -2.94%		+$1.1899	+$1.1842 
     Dollar/Yen		JPY=EBS	109.2500	   109.0300	+0.21%		 +5.74%		+109.2550   +108.7250 
     Euro/Yen		  EURJPY=	129.55		 129.35	  +0.15%		 +2.07%		+129.6100   +129.1500 
     Dollar/Swiss	  CHF=EBS	0.9050		 0.9041	  +0.11%		 +2.31%		+0.9061	 +0.9019 
     Sterling/Dollar   GBP=D3	 $1.3930		$1.3914	 +0.13%		 +1.98%		+$1.3957	+$1.3899 
     Dollar/Canadian   CAD=D3	 1.2541		 1.2535	  +0.04%		 -1.53%		+1.2552	 +1.2516 
     Aussie/Dollar	 AUD=D3	 $0.7400		$0.7393	 +0.11%		 -3.79%		+$0.7426	+$0.7388 
     Euro/Swiss		EURCHF=	1.0731		 1.0726	  +0.05%		 -0.70%		+1.0737	 +1.0724 
     Euro/Sterling	 EURGBP=	0.8511		 0.8529	  -0.21%		 -4.77%		+0.8532	 +0.8506 
     NZ				NZD=D3	 $0.7061		$0.7019	 +0.61%		 -1.66%		+$0.7088	+$0.7018 
     Dollar/Dollar																					 
    
     Dollar/Norway	 NOK=D3	 8.8020		 8.8215	  -0.46%		 +2.25%		+8.8245	 +8.7780 
     Euro/Norway	   EURNOK=	10.4394		10.4650	 -0.24%		 -0.26%		+10.4750	+10.4180 
     Dollar/Sweden	 SEK=	   8.5925		 8.5979	  -0.13%		 +4.84%		+8.6123	 +8.5666 
     Euro/Sweden	   EURSEK=	10.1914		10.2049	 -0.13%		 +1.14%		+10.2130	+10.1909 
    	<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
    World FX rates	https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E 
    
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