Asian session: The dollar headed for a fourth weekly decline against the euro

05:00 Japan Leading Economic Index October 109.2 109.9 109.9

05:00 Japan Coincident Index October 108.4 109.9 109.6

The dollar headed for a fourth weekly decline against the euro as investors weigh whether U.S. payrolls data due today will encourage the Federal Reserve to consider trimming stimulus as early as this month. The U.S. economy added 185,000 jobs last month, a Bloomberg News survey shows before today’s Labor Department report.

U.S. GDP climbed at a 3.6 percent annualized rate in the third quarter, up from an initial estimate of 2.8 percent and the strongest since the first quarter of 2012, Commerce Department figures showed yesterday. Another report said first-time claims for jobless benefits dropped by 23,000 to 298,000 last week, according to the Labor Department.

The euro rose yesterday after the European Central Bank kept its benchmark rate unchanged and gave no indication that policy makers will introduce a negative deposit rate. ECB President Mario Draghi said at a press conference that while the central bank was “technically ready” to cut its deposit rate below zero, the Governing Council only discussed a negative rate “briefly” at its meeting. The deposit rate is what the ECB charges banks for parking excess cash at the central bank. It is set at zero.

The yen pared its first weekly advance in six against the dollar after the head of an advisory panel said Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund needs to cut bond holdings right away.

EUR / USD: during the Asian session the pair fell to $ 1.3655

GBP / USD: during the Asian session the pair fell to $ 1.6320

USD / JPY: during the Asian session, the pair rose to Y102.20

A busy week for the markets comes to an end Friday, although there is no respite for traders as the US jobs report looms large. The European calendar gets underway from 0745GMT, when French October trade and budget numbers cross the wires. At 0815GMT, Swiss November CPI numbers are expected to cross the wires. Analysts are looking for CPI to fall 0.2% on month, with HICP down 0.3% on the month. Eurogroup Head Jeroen Dijsselbloem is scheduled to speak at an economic forum, in Frankfurt, starting around 0830GMT. At 0900GMT, ECB Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny will deliver a press conference on the economic forecasts for Austria, in Vienna. On the Continent, at 1000GMT, the Bundesbank will release its latest economic forecasts. German October manufacturing orders data will cross the wires at 1100GMT, with economists looking for a month-on-month fall of 1%. ECB Executive Board member Joerg Asmussen is slated to speak in Berlin at 1320GMT.