Bloomberg) — World Bank chief economist Penny Goldberg plans to step down on March 1 to return to her job as an economics professor at Yale University.

Aart Kraay, the director of research in the Development Research Group, will become acting chief economist as the bank begins the search for a permanent successor, President David Malpass wrote in an e-mail to staff that was obtained by Bloomberg News.

Goldberg, a microeconomist known for her work on trade and development, joined the World Bank in November 2018, Malpass said. She was the first woman editor-in-chief of the American Economic Review.

By Yasin Ebrahim

Invesing.com – The dollar climbed on Wednesday as firmer services and private labor market data suggested the underlying U.S. economy remained on solid footing.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose by 0.28% to 98.09.

ISM non-manufacturing data for January showed an uptick to 55.5, beating expectations of 55.

The services sector is a critical component of the U.S. economy, accounting for roughly 80% of U.S. private-sector gross domestic product (GDP).

On the labor market front, private payrolls grew by 291,000 last month, a sharp increase from the 199,000 in December, according to a report released Wednesday by ADP (NASDAQ:ADP) and Moody’s Analytics. That beat the economists’ forecast of 156,000.

The bullish labor market data – just days ahead of the all-important nonfarm payrolls print due Friday – underpinned investor hopes that the economy will remain resilient despite the threat to global growth from a coronavirus-led slowdown in China.

Safe-haven demand remained on the back foot, pressuring the yen and Swiss franc as fears about the impact of the coronavirus eased despite the death toll in China rising to 493 so far and 25,000 infected.

USD/JPY rose 0.19% to Y109.72 and USD/CHF gained 0.39% to 0.9728.

GBP/USD fell 0.20% $1.3004 as Brexit concerns remerged following reports that the EU, as part of upcoming trade talks, could strip concessions it granted to U.K. investment firms — a potential move that would hurt Britain’s economically important financial sector.

The EU reportedly is considering amending a regulation known as MIFID II, which governs how countries outside the EU sell financial services to customers within the economic bloc.

EUR/USD fell 0.30% to $1.1003.

USD/CAD fell 0.18% to C$1.3295 but gains were kept in check as a surge in oil prices underpinned the loonie.

Oil prices jumped sharply as better-than-expected crude inventory numbers offset a larger build in weekly crude supplies. Crude prices were also supported by hopes that OPEC and its allies will agree to rein in production further in an effort to curb the expected impact of the coronavirus on oil demand.

By Tom Westbrook

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The U.S. dollar stood tall on Thursday, supported by firm domestic data and hopes the coronavirus’ economic impact could be limited, even as the human toll continued to climb.

Another 73 people on the Chinese mainland died on Wednesday from the outbreak, the highest daily increase so far, bringing the total death toll to 563.

Infections stand at 28,018. Drugmakers and the World Health Organization played down press reports about progress toward finding treatments, which had boosted traders’ confidence.

Amid the uncertainty about the virus, currency investors also turned their attention to traditional market drivers, specifically U.S. private payrolls, which posted their biggest jump in nearly four years, while a separate report showed a service sector pickup.

That helped the greenback higher and it drifted north in morning trade to a two-week high of 109.87 Japanese yen .

It sat at $1.0994 per euro, just below a one-week peak touched overnight against the common currency (EUR=), while the Australian dollar inched ahead by 0.1%.

“This is a market that was just wanting to go higher, it just needs a reason,” said Chris Weston, head of research at Melbourne brokerage Pepperstone.

“It’s like a jack-in-the-box, with a lid that is just waiting to spring up,” he said.

“If you’ve got investable capital, you want to try and get it as far away from ground zero as you possibly can, and I think that’s why you’re seeing relative outperformance from markets which had less exposure.”

Overnight the S&P 500 (SPX) made a fresh record closing high and the dollar hit a two-month high against a basket of its peers (DXY).

Yet plenty of caution remains elsewhere, with oil prices stabilizing but making only a cautious recovery with the size of the expected hit to demand still growing.

The virus has disrupted air travel, driven holiday cancellations, factory closures and production cuts.

“Places where the optimism isn’t being felt include Thailand and Singapore, with room for easier monetary policy being explored and Korea, where it’s way too real to relax,” said Kit Juckes, an analyst at Societe Generale (PA:SOGN).

The Thai baht and Korean won have both been heavily sold in recent weeks, each giving up 2% since Jan. 20 and both soft in morning trade on Thursday.

The Singapore dollar licked its wounds after posting its steepest drop in two years on Wednesday when the central bank said the currency has room to weaken as the virus weighs on the economy.

Elsewhere the British pound sat at $1.2991, while the Swedish krona jumped against the euro (EURSEK=) after a better than expected manufacturing survey sent it 0.5% higher.

The Hong Kong dollar hit an almost three-year high overnight as attractive interest rates in the city attract deposits.