Investing.com - The U.S. dollar slipped slightly on Tuesday, as trade optimism faded and investors looked ahead to Friday’s jobs report.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, inched down 0.1% to 96.347 by 10:31 AM ET (14:31 GMT).
The U.S. jobs report is due Friday and is projected to show nonfarm payrolls rose by 164,000 in June, rebounding from a steep decline in May.
If the numbers continue to disappoint, it’s likely to further support the case for the Federal Reserve cutting rates at its next meeting. The Fed opened up the door at its last policy meeting for a rate cut this year.
Meanwhile, other central banks are also cutting down rates in a bid to curb slowing global growth amid fears of trade war uncertainty.
The Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates to a record low of 1% overnight, with RBA Governor Philip Lowe saying the move was designed to support employment and help inflation move towards the bank’s target. AUD/USD jumped 0.4% to 0.6991.
The dollar was lower against the safe-haven Japanese yen, with USD/JPY falling 0.2% to 108.21. Elsewhere, the euro rose with EUR/USD up 0.1% to 1.1291, while GBP/USD slumped 0.4% to 1.2589 and USD/CAD inched down 0.1% to 1.3126.