U.S. Dollar Falls as Economy Loses 85,000 Jobs
The U.S. Dollar finished sharply lower on Friday following the release of a U.S. Non-Farm Payrolls Report which showed the economy lost 85,000 jobs in December. This bearish number surprised traders who were looking for evidence that the U.S. economy stopped losing jobs in December.
Economists were looking for December Non-Farm Payrolls to rise by 10,000. Most came to this conclusion because of weekly initial claims and other employment index reports. However, the ADP jobs data report which was released earlier in the week showed that 84,000 were lost in the private sector. Today’s report which included both the private and government sectors lost 85,000 jobs. This leads one to speculate that either the government has to start hiring, or it has to begin spending more money to create jobs in the private sector.
The EUR USD rallied following the U.S. jobs data report. This bullish move erased an earlier loss triggered by an overnight report which showed that the Euro Zone unemployment rate reached 10% in November. Regaining of the retracement zone at 1.4350 to 1.4319 is a sign of strength. Upside momentum could be building which sends the Euro back to 1.4680 - 1.4799 over the near-term.
