Dollar Retreats as Investors Remain Optimistic over U.S. Jobs Data

By Gina Lee

Investing.com – The dollar was down on Monday morning, with investors retreating from the safe-haven asset after the U.S. released a better-than-expected employment report on Friday.

The U.S. jobless rate was 13.3% in May, down from April’s 14.7%, according to the Labor Department’s employment report released on Friday. The U.S. non-farm payroll also increased by 2.5 million, against analyst expectations of an 8-million drop.

The U.S. Dollar Index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies fell 0.05% to 96.873 by 11:51 AM ET (4:51 AM GMT).

The USD/JPY pair was down 0.07% to 109.50.

“Commodities and emerging market currencies are clearly finding it easier to rise against the dollar on hopes of economic recovery, but it is a different story when it comes to the yen...for dollar/yen the focus is more on yields, which is pushing the currency pair higher,” Junichi Ishikawa, senior foreign exchange strategist at IG Securities, told Reuters.

The USD/CNY pair gained 0.04% to 7.0838. Data released by China on Sunday showed that the world’s second largest economy was still recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 virus, with imports shrinking by a larger-than-expected 16.7% in May year-on-year. Exports shrank by 3.3%.

The AUD/USD pair gained 0.09% to 0.6975 and the NZD/USD pair jumped 0.22% to 0.6520. The Antipodean currencies, considered riskier compared to the USD or JPY, took advantage of the improved risk sentiment to edge towards levels last seen in January.

The GBP/USD pair gained 0.32% to 1.2704.

Related Articles

Dollar dips as commodity currencies gain on recovery hopes

Brazil's real surges through 5.00 per dollar, chalks up best week since 2008

Brazil, Mexico currencies both rebound but real has more legs than peso