The US dollar dropped today, falling for the third straight session against the euro and the Great Britain pound, after non-farm payrolls showed very small growth. At the same time, the US currency jumped to the highest level since June 2009 versus the Japanese yen.
Non-farm employment grew 88,000 in March. It was nowhere near the median forecast of 198,000. Other macroeconomic data was a bit better. The unemployment rate ticked down by 0.1 percentage point to 7.6 percent and the trade balance deficit unexpectedly shrank from $44.5 billion in January to $43.0 billion in February. Still, the poor employment growth overshadowed other data, weakening the dollar.
The greenback was soft today after the unfavorable report. The employment data may keep the currency weak for some time as it reduces chances for the Federal Reserve to scale down its monetary stimulus.
EUR/USD climbed from 1.2935 to 1.3008 and GBP/USD went up from 1.5230 to 1.5336 as of 20:09 GMT today. Meanwhile, USD/JPY surged from 96.32 to 97.76.
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