WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Despite data showing a stronger than expected jobs growth in the month of February, and narrowing trade deficit, the U.S. dollar stayed weak right through the session on Friday amid concerns about the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S.
The Federal Reserve earlier this week cut interest rate by 50 basis points, almost two weeks ahead of its scheduled monetary policy meeting, to help fight the impact of the virus outbreak on the economy.
The dollar index dropped to a low of 95.71 and despite recovering to 96.01 later on in the session, was still languishing in negative territory with a sharp loss of about 0.82%.
Data from the Labor Department said employment surged up by 273,000 jobs in February, matching the upwardly revised spike in January.
Economists had expected employment to increase by about 175,000 jobs compared to the jump of 225,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
With the much stronger than expected job growth, the unemployment rate unexpectedly edged down to 3.5% in February from 3.6% in January. The rate had been expected to remain unchanged.
A report released by the Commerce Department on Friday showed the U.S. trade deficit narrowed to $45.3 billion in January from a revised $48.6 billion in December. Economists had expected the trade deficit to narrow to $46.1 billion from the $48.9 billion originally reported for the previous month.
Another report from the Commerce Department said wholesale inventories in the U.S. fell by 0.4% in January after slipping by a revised 0.3% in December. Economists had expected wholesale inventories to edge down by 0.2%, matching the dip originally reported for the previous month.
Against the Euro, the dollar weakened to $1.1305 from Thursday's close of $1.1235.
Against pound sterling, the dollar drifted down to $1.3048 after initially hovering around $1.2940 - $1.2950 levels.
The Japanese Yen strengthened to 105.40 a dollar, gaining from 106.16 yen a dollar on Thursday evening.
The Aussie gained about 0.4% to $0.6640. Against Swiss franc, the dollar eased to 0.9384 franc, losing about 0.75%.
Against the loonie, the dollar was down at $1.3425. A report from Statistics Canada showed the economy created 30,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage points to 5.6%.
Another report from Statistics Canada said Canada's merchandise exports fell 2.0% in January, while imports were down 0.5%. As a result, Canada's merchandise trade deficit with the world widened from $732 million in December 2019 to $1.5 billion in January.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2020 AFX News
