The U.S. dollar fell against the yen on Thursday after data showed signs of labor market weakness and a stronger-than-expected rise in U.S. inflation in September, although prices were on a downward trend, prompting the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.
Labor Department data released Thursday showed the consumer price index rose 0.2% in September. The CPI rose 2.4% in the 12 months to September, the smallest annual increase since February 2021.
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Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the CPI rising 0.1 percent and rising 2.3 percent year on year.
Other Labor Department data also showed that the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits rose last week, driven in part by Hurricane Helen and furloughs at Boeing.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose to 258,000 last week, compared with a Reuters analyst estimate of 230,000 claims.
The dollar fell 0.39 percent to 148.71 yen, after rising to 149.58 yen for the first time since Aug. 2. Against the dollar, the euro fell to its lowest level since August 9 and was down 0.17 percent on the day at $1.092.
The dollar index, which measures the currency against six main rivals including the yen and the euro, rose 0.1 percent to 102.97 after hitting its highest since Aug. 15.
“The number of claims dominated the story and drove bond yields down because it reminded the market that the Fed actually has some concerns about the employment story,” said John Velis, FX and macro strategist at BNY in Boston.
CME Group's FedWatch tool showed traders are betting on a nearly 90 percent chance of a 25 basis point Fed rate cut in the next policy decision on Nov. 7 and a 9 percent chance of no change. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. bond rose 3.3 basis points to 4.1 percent.
“We had such a good job print in September that it went back in the opposite direction and eliminated some of the Fed's price tightening, or let me say it put more rate cut expectations in place for the November 7th meeting,” Velis added.
The U.S. economy added 254,000 jobs in September and the unemployment rate fell to 4.1%, Labor Department data showed on Friday.
The risk-sensitive Australian dollar rose 0.05% to $0.6722. It rose more than 0.3 percent on a rally in shares in top trading partner China as the East Asian country's central bank launched a swap program aimed at supporting stock markets.
China's Ministry of Finance is scheduled to hold a highly anticipated press conference on fiscal policy on Saturday. The dollar was flat at 7.093 against the offshore Chinese yuan.
In cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin gained 0.28% to $60,541.29. Ethereum rose 1% to $2,377.29.
Offer price of the coin on October 10th at 2:51 pm GMT
Description RIC Last US Close Previous Session Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid
Dollar index 102.98 102.88 0.11 percent 1.59 percent 103.06 102.71
EUR/USD 1.0921 1.094 -0.16 percent -1.05 percent $1.0955 $1.0909
Dollar/yen 148.76 149.28 -0.26 percent 5.56 percent 149.49 148.4
EUR/JPY 1.0921 163.31 -0.51 percent 4.4 percent 163.6 162.24
Dollar/Swiss 0.858 0.8609 -0.29 percent 2 percent 0.8615 0.8559
Pound Sterling/Dollar 1.3049 1.3075 -0.19 percent 2.55 percent $1.3094 $1.3011
Dollar/Canadian 1.3761 1.3711 0.38 percent 3.82 percent 1.3768 1.3702
Australia / Dollar 0.6721 0.6719 0.07 percent -1.39 percent $0.6743 $0.6702
Euro/Switzerland 0.9371 0.9416 -0.49 percent 0.9 percent 0.9419 0.9366
Euro/British Pound 0.8367 0.8367 percent not available -3.47 percent 0.8385 0.8355
New Zealand dollar/dollar 0.6075 0.6063 0.21 percent -3.85 percent $0.6097 0.605
Dollar / Norway 10.757 10.7767 -0.18 percent 6.14 percent 10.7954 10.7348
Euro/Norway 11.7492 11.79 -0.35 percent 4.68 percent 11.8034 11.7375
Dollar / Sweden 10.4043 10.3946 0.09 percent 3.35 percent 10.4137 10.3697
EUR/Sweden 11.3637 11.3738 -0.09 percent 2.14 percent 11.3825 11.3524
(Only the title and image for this report may have been reworked by the Business Standards team; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a distributed feed.)