| Time | Country | Event | Period | Previous value | Forecast | Actual |
|---|
| 07:55 | Germany | Services PMI | May | 53.2 | 53.9 | 54.2 |
| 08:00 | Eurozone | Services PMI | May | 53.3 | 53.3 | 53.2 |
| 08:30 | United Kingdom | Purchasing Manager Index Services | May | 55.0 | 52.9 | 52.9 |
USD strengthened against most of the other major currencies in the European session on Wednesday as investors looked to more crucial U.S. labour market reports, which could reinforce expectations that the Federal Reserve will begin rate cutting in the autumn, later than most other major central banks, particularly the European Central Bank, Bank of England and Bank of Canada.
The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), measuring the U.S. currency's value relative to a basket of foreign currencies, increased 0.26% from the previous close to 104.38.
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report, released yesterday, showed a steeper-than-forecast decrease in job openings in April to 8.059 million from an upwardly revised 8.355 million (from 8.488 million) in March, indicating the U.S. labour market is cooling.
This report, which followed a series of other U.S. data, indicating softening economic conditions, added to markets’ bets that the Fed will deliver the first of its interest rate decreases in September.
According to the CME FedWatch tool, markets are now pricing in a 64.9% probability of a September rate cut by the Fed compared with 47.0% a week ago.
Today, investors will receive the National Employment Report for May from payroll processing group ADP. Economists expect the ADP’s report will show that 175,000 private sector jobs were created last month, following 192,000 in April.
The weekly jobless claims statistics will be published on Thursday, and the key employment situation report for May will be released on Friday.