The U.S. dollar moved up modestly on Tuesday as job openings in the U.S. fell for the second-straight month.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, gained 0.1% to 98.347 as of 9:49 AM ET (13:49 GMT).
Jobs openings slipped by 31,000 to a seasonally adjusted 7.2 million in July, the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, on Tuesday.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 130,000 jobs in August, down from a 159,000 gain in July, the government reported last Friday.
While the JOLTS numbers are a lagging indicator, it is used by the Federal Reserve to confirm the trend in the jobs market. Expectations for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by a quarter point this month remain priced in at 92%.
The Japanese yen, which is seen as a safe haven in times of market turmoil, fell with USD/JPY rising 0.1% to 107.30.
Sterling recovered slightly after the U.K. employment report showed solid wage growth and a decline in the unemployment rate. GBP/USD rose 0.1% to 1.2349 while EUR/USD fell 0.1% to 1.1039.
