Yahoo Finance Dollar Eases as Markets Digest U.S. Jobs Report
Investing.com - The U.S. dollar remained moderately lower against other major currencies on Monday, as markets digested the latest U.S. nonfarm payrolls report.
The dollar initially strengthened after the Labor Department reported on Friday that the U.S. economy added 313,000 jobs last month, beating economists’ forecasts of 200,000. It was the largest monthly increase in one-and-a-half years.
However the report also showed that average hourly earnings rose by just 0.1% in February for an annual rate of 2.6%, down from 2.8% in January.
The slowdown in wage growth dampened expectations for four rate hikes by the Federal Reserve this year.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.08% at 90.04 by 06:05 a.m. ET (10:05 GMT), off Friday's one-week high of 90.36.
The euro and the pound were higher, with EUR/USD up 0.18% at 1.2329 and with GBP/USD adding 0.13% to 1.3871.
The single currency's gains were limited however, after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi downplayed a decision to drop the easing bias from last week’s rate statement and warned that increasing protectionism posed a threat to the outlook for growth in the euro area.
The yen and Swiss franc were also mildly stronger, with USD/JPY down 0.23% at 106.56 and with USD/CHF shedding 0.21% to 0.9498.
Elsewhere, the Australian and New Zealand dollars were higher, with AUD/USD adding 0.11% to 0.7857 and with NZD/USD advancing 0.37% to 0.7307.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD edged up 0.10% to trade at 1.2824.
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