Soft data drags back dollar ahead of Jackson Hole

The dollar nursed a sharp pullback against Asian currencies on Thursday, after softer-than-expected global economic data muddied the interest rate outlook and pushed down U.S. yields ahead of the Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole symposium.

The Australian dollar, which has been taking a battering for a few months on signs of China’s slowdown and resilience in the U.S., jumped 0.9% overnight after U.S. manufacturing and services PMIs missed expectations.

“Weaker than expected … data led markets to scale back their expectations for U.S. policy,” said Commonwealth Bank of Australia currency strategist Carol Kong, with jobless claims the next focus ahead of Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s Friday speech.

The New Zealand dollar also leapt overnight, as did the yen, which crossed below 145 to the dollar for the first time in more than a week tracking a sharp move lower in U.S. Treasury yields.

Further moves for the major pairs were only slight in Asia morning trade, leaving the Aussie at $0.6479, the kiwi at $0.5976 and the yen firming slightly to 144.64 per dollar.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies remains higher for the month, but dipped about 0.2% overnight. PMI data was soft globally, which tempered gains for the euro and sent sterling on a wide-ranging round trip before it steadied around $1.2717.

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