Traders Please Get Ready Ahead of FOMC Minutes!

<p>&nbsp;The US dollar traded firmly against other major currencies on Wednesday as markets awaited minutes of the FOMC meeting for any potential insight into the interest rate outlook.</p><p><br /></p><p>The US dollar index which measures the US dollar against six major currencies traded up 0.19% at 102.855.</p><p><br /></p><p>Markets are pricing in an 85.2% chance that the Fed will raise rates another quarter point in July and that another hike is likely later this year.</p><p><br /></p><p>"We have to see how the Fed emphasizes the hawkish message that they are not done raising rates to lower inflation," said Joe Manimbo, senior market analyst at Convera in Washington.</p><p><br /></p><p>The NFP report on Friday is expected to show the US economy will add 225,000 jobs in June, and the unemployment rate fell to 3.6% last month, based on a Reuters poll.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>"The economy looks resilient overall, but manufacturing has been in this upbeat state for eight months and counting and we'll have to see if that leads the Fed to signal that it's not far from the end of its tightening cycle," Manimbo said.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Euro was down 0.06% at $1.0870, while sterling traded steady at $1.2712. For the yen the US dollar versus the yen moved in line with the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield, which was broadly unchanged on the day at 3.868% after resuming trading following the U.S. Independence Day holiday. on Tuesday.</p><p><br /></p><p>"The market is paying attention to potential intervention risks, but as a medium-term trend, the market is looking for further downside for the yen," said Shusuke Yamada, head of forex and rates strategy at Bank of America.</p><p><br /></p><p>"We don't see a very high probability that the Ministry of Finance will intervene at the same level as last year and if the move is not fast ie below 150 we may not see any intervention at all."</p><p><br /></p><p>The Australian dollar fell in line with the Chinese yuan after data showed China's services activity grew at the slowest pace in five months in June, the latest sign of a rapid post-pandemic recovery in the world's second-largest economy.</p><p><br /></p><p>Ahead of China's services data, the Aussie was slightly firmer following another firmer yuan fixation from the People's Bank of China, driving bets for imminent policy support from Beijing.</p>