Forex Top Story
11/6/2009 3:04 PM ET
(RTTNews) -
The dollar tumbled versus the yen on Friday as renewed pessimism about the global economy in the wake of a troubling report on the US jobs situation fueled a move from riskier currencies to the safe haven yen.
Unemployment soared above the psychologically important 10%, a sign that this summer's economic growth has yet to translate into a stable jobs situation.
With US workers remaining anxious about getting pink slips and fewer people able to find jobs, consumer spending, once the engine of organic growth, is likely to remain extremely muted.
The report released by the Labor Department on Friday showed that non-farm payroll employment fell by 190,000 jobs in October following a revised decrease of 219,000 jobs in September. Unemployment hit a new twenty-six year high of 10.2 percent.
The dollar dropped versus the yen as traders bet the Japanese currency was a better safe haven play than the world's reserve currency. The buck slipped to 89.60 yen, down from a weekly range near 91.
Meanwhile, the dollar was stable versus the euro, holding near 1.4850. Back in October, the dollar hit a yearly low of 1.5059, back his since found support as risk appetite has waned.
The back firmed up a bit versus the sterling before returning to its pre-jobs report level near 1.6600. The pair has been stuck between 1.5700 and 1.6700 for the last few weeks, with the dollar easing to the lower end of that range of late.
The buck spiked higher versus its Canadian counterpart, taking back losses from earlier in the week. The buck improved to C$1.0750, staying well away from October's yearly low near C$1.0200.
The Canadian employment situation took an unexpected turn for worse in October, pushing the unemployment rate to 8.6%. The data cemented expectations the Bank of Canada will keep interest rates low for the time being.
by RTT Staff Writer
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