Forexpros –
Forexpros – The U.S. dollar was mixed against its major counterparts in U.S. trade Friday, following the release of data showing a stagnant U.S. labor market and a sharp downturn on Wall Street.
In afternoon U.S. trade, the greenback was higher against the euro, with EUR/USD falling 0.48% to hit 1.4189.
Earlier Friday, the U.S. Labor Department reported that non-farm payrolls remained flat in August, after a revised 85,000 gain in July.
Market expectations were for non-farm payrolls to increase by 74,000 in August.
Unemployment held steady at 9.1% in August, mirroring the July figure and in line with economist’s forecasts, according to the Labor Department report.
“The number of unemployed persons, at 14 million, was essentially unchanged in August…Employment in most major industries changed little over the month,” the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its report.
The White House’s Office of Management and Budget, on Thursday, forecast that unemployment would average 8.8% this year, down from an earlier estimate of 9.3%.
The office added that the federal budget deficit would fall to USD1.32 trillion in 2011, down from the USD1.64 trillion estimated in the 2012 fiscal budget.
Wall Street investors took a dim view of the labor numbers as U.S. stocks were on track to post their second consecutive day of losses. In late session trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.29% to 11,229.90, the Nasdaq Composite Index retreated 2.92% to 2,471.58, and the S&P 500 surrendered 2.69%. to 1,172.56.
Meanwhile, the greenback was down against the British pound, with GBP/USD gaining 0.21% to hit 1.6215.
The dollar was lower against the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc with USD/JPY retreating 0.20% to hit 76.78, and USD/CHF lower by 0.84% to hit 0.7889.
The greenback was higher against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts with USD/CAD up 0.67% to hit 0.9834, AUD/USD down 0.60% to hit 1.0661, and NZD/USD slipping 0.33% to hit 0.8479.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.32% at 74.81.
U.S. market were to be closed next Monday for the Labor Day Holiday.
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