Dollar Firm on Data

The dollar remained firm after a sharp rally yesterday in reaction to Fed Chairman Bernanke’s warning on inflation.

The currency extended its gains today as several economic reports came out better than expected. US ADP job report showed 40 jobs were added in private sector in May, beating the estimate of a 30k fall. We are awaiting the non-farm payrolls report from the Labor Department due this Friday to take the pluse of the nation’s whole job market.

Other US data released today include the first quarter productivity, which rose 2.6% versus the estimate of 2.5%, and May non-manufacturing ISM, which came out at 51.7 above the estimate of 51.0.