LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The dollar climbed to its highest level since September 2003 on Wednesday ahead of closely-watched jobs data and the European Central Bank meeting later in the week. The ICE dollar index DXY, +0.03% , which measures the greenback against a basket of six rival currencies, jumped 0.3% to 95.71. The strength for the dollar came as the euro EURUSD, -0.06% continued to its slide, trading at $1.1124, down from $1.1176 late Tuesday. Investors were waiting for the ADP U.S. employment report due at 8:15 a.m. Eastern Time, as well as the top-tier nonfarm-payrolls numbers out on Friday. In Europe, market participants looked ahead to the ECB meeting on Thursday, hoping for hints as to when the central bank will kick off its quantitative-easing program.