Despite a recent run of disappointing employment data today’s US non-farm payrolls report came as a pleasant surprise. Not only did payrolls expand by 165,000 in April (25,000 more than estimated) but the US jobless rate fell to a four-year low of 7.5 per cent.
The US Dollar Exchange Rate was trading in the region of 99.1400 against the Japanese Yen as of 14:30 GMT
Despite a series of planned spending cuts coming into effect in March that month’s non-farm payrolls figure was also significantly upwardly revised, from 88,000 to 138,000.
In recent weeks economists have expressed concerns that the federal budget cuts are pushing the US labour market recovery off course, so this result was unexpectedly positive, although the figures did show that job creation in the construction and manufacturing sectors stagnated.
In response to the data Eric Green of TD Securities commented: ‘The demise of this recovery is grossly exaggerated. We’re still in a soft patch, but the job market is not falling apart. The US labour market is in much better shape than most people feared.’
The last time the US unemployment rate was at 7.5 per cent was at the close of 2008.
Although some industry experts expect the labour market recovery to ease in the months ahead, due to the ongoing cuts and reduced levels of consumer spending, in the aftermath of the report’s publication the US Dollar was able to surge against its rivals, strengthening to 99.05 Yen and 1.3043 Euros.
The ‘Greenback’ also gained on the Pound, despite the British currency gaining on its US counterpart following a better-than-expected UK service sector index.
Of that result one economist noted: ‘Although early days, alongside rises in the manufacturing and construction surveys seen earlier this week, today’s services result points to the economy growing by 0.2 per cent in the second quarter.’
Current Japanese Yen (JPY) Exchange Rates
< Down > Up
The US Dollar/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.6451 >
The US Dollar/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.7663 >
The US Dollar/Australian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.9740 <
The US Dollar/Japanese Yen Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 99.1400 >
The US Dollar/Canadian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.0112 >
The Pound Sterling/ US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.5496 <
The Euro/US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.3050 <
The Australian Dollar/US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.0267 >
The Canadian Dollar/US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.9895 <
The New Zealand Dollar/US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.8495 >
(Correct as if 14:30 GMT)
Comments are closed.