The US dollar fell against most of its major counterparts as risk appetite increased amid continued speculation that central banks might take further steps to boost economic growth.
The euro rose versus the greenback for a second week, the longest stretch since June, as members of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition signaled they would not block European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi’s plan to buy government bonds. Stocks rallied as US employers added more jobs than forecast even as the unemployment rate rose to a five-month high. US Federal Reserve President Ben Bernanke could discuss policy options in an Aug. 31 speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
The dollar fell 0.5 percent to US$1.2387 per euro this week in New York, after losing 1.3 percent in the five days that ended on July 27. The yen depreciated 0.5 percent to ¥97.19 per euro in its second weekly loss. The Japanese currency was little changed at ¥78.47 to the dollar.
The Dollar Index, which Intercontinental Exchange Inc uses to track the greenback against the currencies of six major US trade partners including the euro and the yen, fell 0.4 percent to 82.375. It dropped as much as 1.3 percent on Friday, the biggest intraday decrease since June 29.
The greenback lost 0.7 percent this week versus nine developed-nation counterparts tracked by the Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes. The euro was little changed, while Sweden’s krona was the best performer, rising 2 percent.
Sterling was the worst performer, declining 0.7 percent to US$1.5640.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rallied as much as 2 percent on Friday, rising for the first time in five days and erasing a weekly loss.
The greenback fell against most major peers yesterday as stocks climbed after US Department of Labor figures showed US payrolls added 163,000 jobs last month. That followed a revised 64,000 increase the previous month that was less than initially reported. The median estimate of 89 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a gain of 100,000. The unemployment rate rose to 8.3 percent, from 8.2 percent.
While Fed policymakers refrained at a meeting that ended on Wednesday from taking further steps to stimulate the world’s largest economy, they said in a statement they would provide additional accommodation as needed amid a slowing economy..
Bernanke is scheduled to speak at the Fed Bank of Kansas City’s conference in Jackson Hole at the end of the month. His speech at the event in 2010 set the stage for a second round of asset purchases.
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],”
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
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