The U.S. Dollar lost ground against a group of major currencies and the Euro today, following the release of U.S. job loss data which showed significant losses over the last quarter. The report raised fears among investors that America was in for a much deeper downturn than was originally expected.
Over the last month, more than 650,000 jobs have been cut from non-farm payrolls, the highest figure in almost seven years. Bank of New York Mellon’s senior currency strategist, Michael Woolfolk, commented that those figures do not yet reflect the Wall Street job losses, implying then that the actual figures were significantly higher.
He also pointed out that the over the last several weeks the U.S. data had the effect of raising the market’s risk aversion, which has helped the U.S. Dollar.
The Euro gained .8% against the U.S. to trade at $1.2795 in early trading in New York. Against the Japanese Yen, however, the U.S. Dollar lost ground, trading at 97.39 Yen, a .4% loss. The .DXY, the ICDE Futures Index, which measures the U.S. Dollar against a basket of six major currencies, fell to 85.565, a loss of .4%.
Despite the poor reports coming from the U.S., some analysts still believe that the U.S. Dollar will continue to rally.