Investors awaits Lagarde's speech and US job reports
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Investors awaits Lagarde's speech and US job reports

The dollar edged higher against major peers on Friday as traders examined US job reports for clues to the Federal Reserve's next course of action.

As the index advances for the fifth consecutive week, it is approaching year highs, helped by general risk aversion among investors and a somewhat hawkish Federal Reserve, leaving the greenback at its highest levels since September 2020.

Meanwhile, US long-term bond yields continue to climb and trade near the 2.155 level. The yield gap between 2 year and 10-year bonds had risen by 3 basis points to 126 pts. The 10-year bond yield also surged to 1.6 as investors anticipate the September job reports will support the Federal Reserve's decision to start tapering asset purchases.

Bond market selling continued Friday after the US Senate passed legislation temporarily raising the federal government's $28.4 trillion debt limit until December and averting the risk of a historic default this month.

This month's jobs report may not impact the market much since expectations are above the August low of 235K, with traders and economists expecting 500K net new jobs, with average hourly earnings expected to rise 0.4% monthly.

Labour market conditions are very vulnerable as the ISM Services PMI fell by less than 1% from last month's level of 53.7 but is still in growth territory while the ISM Manufacturing PMI printed at 50.2, slightly higher than the previous month's 49.0 reading.

Meanwhile, the ADP report came in at 568K net new jobs, well above the downwardly-revised figure of 340K last month. Initial unemployment claims dropped to 344K from 355K last month.

USDCHF retesting a significant resistance

Today's release of data may provide traders with fresh opportunities for trading majors. The USDCHF could be considered at a turning point since the pair is likely to retest the daily resistance level around 0.93 near the top of its weekly trading range.

USD fundamentals appear to favour bullish traders, supporting further gains. Investors, however, are reluctant to take prominent positions ahead of Friday's release of the US monthly NFP, which could affect USDCHF dynamics and give the pair a new direction. By the way, the uptrend is likely intact as long as the price stays above the support level of 0.92515.