U.S. dollar dives as U.S. job market cools off in June

NEW YORK, July 7 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar suffered substantial losses on Friday as a weaker-than-expected jobs report pushed down 2-year U.S. Treasury yield.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, decreased 0.86 percent at 102.2807 in late trading.

According to the jobs report released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday, U.S. employers added 209,000 non-farm jobs in June, below the forecast consensus of 213,000. The growth in nonfarm payrolls last month represented the smallest gain since December 2020, but the unemployment rate in June read 3.6 percent, compared with 3.7 percent in May.

"Today's U.S. labour report was rather mixed, although markets appeared to focus on the negatives," according to Matthew Ryan, head of market strategy at financial services firm Ebury.

The two-year U.S. Treasury yield lost as much as 13 basis points on Friday after hitting a 16-year high of 5.12 percent on Thursday.

Stock markets were mixed as trading unfolded on Friday. The S&P 500 remained slightly lower, while the Russell 2000, which reflects the performance of smaller firms more exposed to the economy, rose around 1 percent.

Joe Brusuelas, chief economist with audit, tax and consulting services provider RSM U.S. LLP, expected that the Fed will resume its rate hiking ways during its upcoming policymaking meeting later this month and increase its benchmark rate by another quarter percentage point.

In late New York trading, the euro was up to 1.0967 dollars from 1.0881 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound rose to 1.2838 dollars from 1.2741 U.S. dollars in the previous session.

The U.S. dollar bought 142.1470 Japanese yen, lower than 144.1270 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar fell to 0.8887 Swiss francs from 0.8959 Swiss francs, and it was down to 1.3272 Canadian dollars from 1.3353 Canadian dollars. The U.S. dollar fell to 10.8309 Swedish Krona from 10.9443 Swedish Krona.