FOREX-Dollar firm, euro at three-week lows as rate cut bets rise

The euro eased to its lowest in over three weeks on Thursday as traders intensified bets that the European Central Bank (ECB) would start cutting rates starting in March 2024, while the dollar was steady ahead of crucial payrolls data this week. Traders are betting that there is about an 85% chance that the ECB cuts interest rates at the March meeting, with almost 150 basis points' worth of easing priced by the end of next year. The question of a rate cut could emerge in 2024, ECB member and Bank of France head Francois Villeroy de Galhau told a French paper in an interview published on Wednesday.