Forexpros – The euro slipped back towards an almost two-year low against the U.S. dollar on Monday, as sustained concerns over the euro zone overshadowed expectations for more monetary easing from the Federal Reserve after Friday’s dismal U.S. jobs data.
EUR/USD hit 1.2386 during late Asian trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2402, shedding 0.26%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2287, Friday’s low and a 22-month low and near-term resistance at 1.2455, Friday’s high.
Official data on Friday showed that the U.S. economy added just 69,000 jobs in May, far below expectations for a gain of 150,000, while the unemployment rate ticked up to 8.2% from 8.1%.
The surprisingly weak data added to concerns that the euro zone crisis is having a negative impact on global growth and fuelled speculation over the prospect for a third round of quantitative easing from the U.S. central bank.
But sentiment on the euro remained negative amid fears that Spain’s high borrowing costs would force Madrid to seek outside financial aid to bailout its ailing banking sector.
The euro was lower against the pound, with EUR/GBP slipping 0.22% to hit 0.8075 and remained little changed against the yen, with EUR/JPY inching up 0.01% to hit 97.01.
The yen remained steady after Japan indicated that it remained prepared to intervene to stem the currency’s strong gains in order to protect the country’s export led economy.
Meanwhile, trade volumes were expected to remain light on Monday, as markets in the U.K. were to remain closed for a national holiday.
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