The US dollar advanced on Friday, regaining some of the ground it lost on Thursday after getting a boost from a surprisingly small decline in last month's payrolls.
US nonfarm payrolls fell 35,000 last month, far short of the 175,000 drop expected by economists in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Additionally, August payrolls were revised sharply higher, to 211,000 from the 169,000 originally reported.
The data, while generally seen as a good sign for the US economy, was received cautiously in markets, since many economists are expecting a bigger fall in payrolls due to the hurricane to materialize this month.
In late New York trading on Friday, the euro was at US$1.2123, down from US$1.2140 before the data and US$1.2183 late Thursday.
The US dollar was at ?113.78, up from ?113.24, and at 1.2782 Swiss francs from SF1.2705. The pound was at US$1.7640 from US$1.7784, while the euro was at ?137.94 from ?137.96.
Currency trading wound down early on Friday, as bond markets closed early at 2pm ahead of tomorrow's Columbus Day holiday, when bond markets will be closed but US stock markets will remain open.
The dollar rose following the jobs report, rebounding partially from the heavy losses it had sustained versus the euro Thursday in the wake of hawkish comments from European Central Bank (ECB) policy-makers. European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Thursday that the ECB is "strongly vigilant" on inflation prospects, and implied the central bank stands ready to raise rates if the need arises.
The dollar's retreat on Thursday had also been seen as something of a correction, as traders pared back their dollar heavy positions following the US currency's ascent to multi-month highs earlier in the week.
Analysts said that the data came as a surprise to a market that had been looking for a far weaker number.
However, the market's mild reaction to the employment data reflects a bit of caution on the part of traders.
"Because of the volatility and disparate movements in the market going into this number, we figured we were going to see a muted reaction," said T.J. Marta, senior currency analyst at RBC Capital Markets in New York.
Analysts also suggest that with the payrolls survey period having ended Sept. 12, there were still many workers on actual payrolls who didn't continue working and are now out of a job.
"The rise in jobless claims since the storm does suggest a bigger loss of jobs indicated here ... This might just mean that the Katrina effect will be spread across more than one month," said Ian Shepherdson, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, New York.
With little indication from the Labor Department to help clarify the effects of Katrina, "you can read these numbers however you want," Shepherdson said.
That may mean that the dollar, which hit its best level versus the euro in two months on Tuesday and its highest level versus the yen since mid-2004 on Wednesday, may not yet have a green light for a further rally.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained