EUR/USD trades with mild losses near 1.0300 as traders await US NFP release

EUR/USD softens to around 1.0300 in Friday’s Asian session.
Several Fed officials favour slowing the pace of interest-rate cuts.
Eurozone Retail Sales showed tepid growth in November.

The EUR/USD pair trades with a mild negative bias around 1.0300 during the Asian trading hours on Friday. The Federal Reserve’s (Fed) move to delay the interest rate cut continues to lift the Greenback and exert some selling pressure on the major pair. Traders brace for the US December Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) report, which is due later on Friday.

Several Fed officials signalled rate cut caution, citing elevated inflation and the uncertainty under the incoming Donald Trump administration. Fed Bank of Boston President Susan Collins said on Thursday that significant uncertainty over the outlook calls for the US central bank to move forward cautiously with future rate reduction.

Meanwhile, Fed Governor Michelle Bowman noted that she sees the interest rates on hold for the time being until the data shows inflation has resumed its downward trend. The hawkish comments from the Fed policymakers could underpin the US Dollar (USD) against the Euro (EUR) in the near term.

Across the pond, the Eurozone Retail Sales figures fail to boost the shared currency ahead of Friday’s US key employment data. Data released by Eurostat on Thursday showed that Retail Sales increased 1.2% YoY in November after rising by a revised 2.1% in October.

However, the Eurozone preliminary Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) data for December has pushed back expectations that the European Central Bank (ECB) will deliver a jumbo rate cut. This, in turn, might help limit the EUR’s losses for the time being.