The US dollar wobbled slightly against the euro on Friday as a grim US employment report signaled the US has entered a painful recession.
The euro was at US$1.2719 around 10pm GMT, up a notch from US$1.2713 late on Thursday.
Against the Japanese currency, the dollar rose to ¥98.21 from ¥97.72.
The US unemployment rate rose last month to its highest level since 1994, official data showed on Friday, with analysts forecasting it to increase further in US president-elect Barack Obama’s first year in office.
The US Labor Department said the jobless rate rose to 6.5 percent as the world’s largest economy shed 240,000 jobs amid the credit squeeze and downturn.
The US economy has lost jobs for 10 straight months this year and the Labor Department revised losses in August and September sharply higher.
“This was a worse than expected report that indicates we are in a pretty steep recession. Fourth-quarter growth could be quite ugly,” Joel Naroff at Naroff Economic Advisors said.
“The damage from the housing collapse and credit crunch is cumulating,” Naroff said, adding that the Federal Reserve policymakers do not meet again until after the jobs report for this month, on Dec. 16.
The dismal jobs news also increased speculation that the Fed would lower interest rates again, after slashing its key rate by a half-point, to 1 percent, on Oct. 29.
The jobs data underlined the challenge for Obama, who met on Friday with his economic team.
In late New York trading, the dollar rose to 1.1783 Swiss francs from SF1.1775 late on Thursday.
The pound edged up to US$1.5645 from US$1.5623.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to