The US Dollar is flirting with a 1-week low against the common currency Euro as concerns over the health of the US economy weigh on the currency. The latest data, which precipitated a rout on Wall Street, showed that hiring by private employers in September had cooled beyond expectations. ADP reported that only 135,000 new jobs had been added lasts month, down from the 140,000 expected, while the previous reading was adjusted downward to 157,000 from 195,000. Analysts had been expecting this Friday's release of non-farms payroll data to show a rise to 145,000 new jobs from 130,000 but Wednesday's numbers have suggested caution.
The EUR/USD was trading at $1.0948, down 0.1122% as of 11:14 am in London; the pair had earlier hit a high of $1.09746. The USD/JPY is trading at 107.1490 Yen, up 0.00848%; the pair has ranged from 107.303 Yen at the high end to 106.962 Yen at the low.
EU Area PMIs Fall Flat
The Euro, meanwhile, is experiencing the knee-jerk reaction of markets to disappointing economic data. In this case, Markit surveys for the Eurozone on the Services and Composite sectors. With the exception of Italy's services sector which had an unexpectedly good reading of 51.4, above 50.4 predicted, all other surveys disappointed. Spain, France, Germany and the EU figures all were lower than the forecasts. Notably, germany's composite reading fell further into contractionary territory with a reading of 48.5 against an expected 49.1, while the EU Composite reading was at 50.1 against a forecast of 50.4.