The US Dollar retreated against the majority of its most traded peers including the Pound and Euro on Friday after data showed the weakest monthly job growth figures in three years, reducing expectations that the Federal Reserve will speed up tapering its bond buying programme.
The ‘Greenback’ weakened after official data showed that the number of new jobs created rose by 74,000 in December, well below economist predictions for a rise of 197,000. The figure was also well below the previous months revised figure of a rise of 241,000.
The U.S. private sector added 87,000 jobs last month, disappointing expectations for 195,000 rise, after an upwardly increase of 226,000 in November.
The report also showed that the U.S. unemployment rate fell to 6.7% in December, from 7.0% in November. Analysts had expected the rate to remain unchanged last month.
Some economists are blaming the recent arctic weather conditions that have swept the USA as a major reason behind the surprisingly low figures. Others are blaming the figure on the recent tapering of the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing programme.
“Today’s number suggests it was too soon. The US Fed has been the crutch helping the US economic recovery. As the crutch is taken away, the US economy is likely to suffer,” said one economist.
There are plenty of economists on both sides of the pond with red faces, after economists made a mess of predicting today’s US jobs data.
Earlier in the session the US Dollar was trading higher against the Pound and other peers after UK manufacturing and industrial production was shown to have stagnated in November, below forecasts for a rise of 0.4%. The Pound could make further gains late in the session if the latest NIESR GDP estimate comes in strongly.
US Dollar (USD) Current Exchange Rates
The US Dollar/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.6075
The US Dollar/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.7332
The US Dollar/ Canadian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.0923
The Pound Sterling/US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.6459
The Euro/ US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.3635
(Correct as of 14:30 pm GMT)
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