The dollar sank to a new low on the euro on Friday on dismal US jobs data but later clawed back losses after the US Federal Reserve said it would pump more liquidity into the cash-strapped banking system.
The euro rose at one point on Friday to a new peak of US$1.5464 since its creation in 1999.
Around 10pm GMT, the euro was at US$1.5359, down slightly from US$1.5381 late on Thursday in New York.
The dollar was at ¥102.67, virtually unchanged from ¥102.64 on Thursday. Earlier the greenback had fallen to ¥101.82, its lowest level since January 2005.
The beleaguered greenback came under heavy selling pressure on news that a faltering US economy lost 63,000 jobs last month.
The US Labor Department report showed the second straight month of losses in nonfarm payrolls, seen as one of the best indicators of economic momentum.
Last month's loss was the biggest since March 2003, at the start of the war in Iraq, and a major disappointment for analysts who were expecting a gain of 25,000 jobs. For some, the report confirms the US is in recession.
"For two months in a row, the US economy lost jobs. This is bad, but not as bad as will get in the coming months," said Kathy Lien, an analyst at Forex Capital Markets.
The weakness in the labor market will lead the Fed to slash its federal funds rate, currently at 3 percent, at its meeting on March 18, she said: "They will have no choice but to cut interest rates by 75 basis points."
CIBC World Markets senior economist Avery Shenfeld said: "The payrolls report had recession written all over it. It's nearly unheard of to see these numbers outside of recession."
The dollar was lifted slightly by news the Fed was pumping up to US$200 billion in short-term funding into the distressed financial system.
In late New York trading on Friday, the US dollar was at 1.0247 Swiss francs, up from SF1.0224 late on Thursday.
The pound firmed to US$2.0153 from US$2.0099.
READJUSTMENT? Despite the rumors, a senior Google official said that the company plans to expand its AI research center in Taipei’s Shilin District Google Taiwan is reducing its workforce as the company continues to adjust operations to improve efficiency and focus resources on core goals, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) reported yesterday. The Alphabet Inc unit said the organizational adjustments have begun and would continue, even though it did not put a figure on the number of potential job cuts or specify the affected departments in its Taiwan operations. The company’s response came after rumors circulated on social media about major job cuts at Google Taiwan. Some posts said the downsizing would target the company’s consumer electronics-related departments
Taiwanese aircraft maker Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC, 漢翔航空) yesterday announced that it has secured a 20-year partnership agreement with Canada-based Bombardier Inc. The two companies held a ceremony in Taipei yesterday to exchange signed copies of the agreement, launching the 20-year partnership under which AIDC would supply cockpit and forward fuselage structural components for Bombardier’s super-midsize Challenger 3500 business jets, the Taiwanese company said. The agreement represents a new milestone in cooperation between the two companies, which dates back to 1999, with the Taiwanese supplier having provided rear fuselage structural components for more than 1,000 Challenger 3500 aircraft, it
FOUNDRY DATA: Demand pushed production on some TSMC lines to full utilization, while Samsung’s market share of 5.9 percent dropped, TrendForce said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) foundry market share edged up to 72.5 percent in the second quarter from 72.3 percent in the previous quarter, propelled by robust artificial intelligence (AI) and smartphone chip revenue, data compiled by market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) showed yesterday. TSMC’s revenue last quarter grew 12 percent sequentially to US$40.2 billion, outpacing the 11.5 percent average growth among the world’s top 10 foundry companies, the researcher said. Combined revenue of the top 10 is expected to grow further this quarter from US$53.49 billion last quarter, supported by strong demand and price hikes, it said. The increased demand has
Global notebook computer shipments are expected to fall 8 percent year-on-year to 167.9 million units this year, dragged by weak demand, high component prices and supply constraints, the Market Intelligence and Consulting Institute (MIC) said on Tuesday. Next year, shipments are expected to decline by a further 4.7 percent to 160 million units as higher retail prices weigh on consumption, MIC deputy director-general Edward Lin (林柏齊) told a news conference in Taipei. The downtrend is expected to extend into 2028, with replacement demand unlikely to recover before supplies of key components rebound and costs decline, Lin said. Surging demand for artificial intelligence (AI)
RSS