U.S. Payrolls Data May Curb Post-Fed Dollar Declines, Standard Bank Says

U.S. jobs data tomorrow may show an increase in payrolls, stemming the dollar’s declines, after the Federal Reserve indicated yesterday its asset purchases will depend on how the economy performs, Standard Bank Plc said.

“The risks to payrolls tomorrow lie to the upside,”Steve Barrow, head of research for Group-of-10 currencies, said today in a research note. “If we are right, this could put at least a temporary block on dollar weakness and bond-market strength.

‘‘Economic data is going to be important,’’ Barrow wrote. ‘‘But there is a danger here that the market attaches too much importance to the data, thinking that strong numbers will cause the Fed to stop when, in fact, nothing could be further from the truth,’’ he said.

The Fed’s lack of clarity of its objectives for inflation and unemployment ‘‘leaves the market groping in the dark a bit,’’ Barrow said.

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