Investing.com - The dollar edged higher against the other major currencies on Wednesday, after Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart said he was in favor of a September interest rate hike.
The dollar strengthened broadly after Lockhart said Tuesday it would take a “significant deterioration in the economic picture” for him to not support a rate hike in September.
The comments came in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
Investors were turning their attention to the upcoming U.S. jobs report for July, which could reinforce expectations for higher interest rates.
The latest government nonfarm payrolls report, which was due to be released on Friday, was expected by economists to show that the economy added 215,000 new jobs last month.
Monthly jobs gains above 200,000 are seen by economists as consistent with strong employment growth.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.20% at 98.24.
EUR/USD slipped 0.24% to 1.0854 after data on Wednesday showed that euro zone service sector growth slowed in July, as activity in France and Italy slowed.
The euro area services purchasing managers' index fell to 53.9 from June’s four year high of 54.2.
Another report showed that retail sales in the region fell by a larger than forecast 0.6% in June.
The dollar was fractionally lower against the pound, with GBP/USD up 0.09% at 1.5578.
Data earlier showed that Markit's U.K. services PMI fell to 57.4 in July from 58.5 in June, compared to expectations for a reading of 58.0.
Elsewhere, the dollar was steady against the yen, with USD/JPY at 124.43 and higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF up 0.19% at 0.9802.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were weaker, with AUD/USD down 0.34% to 0.7355 and with NZD/USD slipping 0.18% to 0.6527.
Statistics New Zealand reported on Wednesday that the number of employed people rose by 0.3% in the second quarter, disappointing expectations for a 0.5% gain, after an increase of 0.7% in the three months to March.
The report also showed that New Zealand's unemployment rate ticked up to 5.9% in the last quarter from 5.8% in the first quarter of 2015, in line with expectations.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD was little changed at 1.3198.