Asian session review: the dollar consolidated against the major currencies

During today's Asian trading, the US dollar was trading steadily against major currencies.

The market's focus this week is on US unemployment data for June, which will be released on Friday, July 2. Data on the labor market are key for the policy of the Federal Reserve System, along with inflation indicators. The dynamics of employment will largely depend on when the Fed will begin to scale back the large-scale stimulus measures introduced at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic.

The chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Tom Barkin, said yesterday that the situation on the American labor market, in his opinion, will significantly improve by the end of the summer. According to Barkin, temporary factors, such as people's concern about the COVID-19 pandemic, the limited work of children's institutions, as well as expectations of an increase in the minimum wage in the United States, limit the recovery of the labor market.

Barkin, who has the right to vote in the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) this year, noted that he would not like the Federal Reserve to start reducing the volume of asset repurchases until there is a further improvement in the labor market situation.

Meanwhile, a member of the Fed's board of governors, Christopher Waller, said on Tuesday that the Fed will probably have to start reducing the asset repurchase program as early as this year in order to be able to start raising the base rate by the end of next year.

The ICE index, which tracks the dynamics of the dollar against six currencies (euro, swiss franc, yen, canadian dollar, pound sterling and swedish krona), fell by 0.02%.