The dollar fell versus six currencies of major U.S. trading partners as employers added more jobs than forecast in September and investors spurned the safety of the U.S. currency for higher-yielding assets. The greenback weakened against 11 of it 16 most-traded counterparts, as traders reduced bets the central bank will introduce a third round of asset purchases, debasing the dollar. Payrolls climbed by 103,000 workers after a revised 57,000 increase the prior month that was more than originally estimated, Labor Department data showed today in Washington. “It makes sense to sell the dollar against the clear risk- on crosses on the back of this,” said Jens Nordvig, a managing director of currency research in New York at Nomura Holdings Inc. “It’s a pretty solid report overall, especially relative to the very bearish environment we’re in. If we have any stability in the U.S., we can have stability in emerging markets.” The Dollar Index, which IntercontinentalExchange Inc. uses to track the greenback against the currencies of six major U.S. trade partners including the euro and yen, declined 0.4 percent to 78.301 at 8:46 a.m. in New York. It touched an eight-month high of 79.838 on Oct. 4. Fed Stance Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said Oct. 4 that policy makers stand ready to take additional steps to bolster the “sluggish” economic recovery. Bernanke’s commitment to revive the U.S. economy comes after almost three-years of near-zero interest rates and $2.3 trillion of mortgage and government-debt purchases by the central bank since 2008 failed to boost growth. The European Central Bank said yesterday it will reintroduce yearlong loans and resume purchases of covered bonds to encourage lending and the Bank of England reactivated its bond-purchase program to help revive the U.K.’s faltering economy. While the ECB took steps to bolster the region’s lenders, the European Commission is pushing for a coordinated capital injection into banks. German chancellor Angela Merkel said policy makers “shouldn’t hesitate” if it turns out financial institutions are undercapitalized. Merkel will meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Berlin on Oct. 9 for their eighth one-on-one summit in 20 months. Euro Moves The ECB’s action “is shoring up European growth prospects, and it’s shoring up European banks,” said Adam Carr, a senior economist in Sydney at ICAP Australia Ltd., a unit of the world’s largest interdealer broker. “That is very positive euro, and I would expect to continue to see the euro being bid as a result.” Faster U.S. job growth is a sign employers remain confident the U.S. will avoid a renewed slump, even as unemployment is forecast to remain above 8 percent through 2013. The risk that the world’s largest economy may fall back into a recession has prompted the Federal Reserve and President Barack Obama to announce further measures to sustain the expansion. The jobless rate held at 9.1 percent. “This report drives a wedge between what’s happening in Europe and what’s happening in the U.S.,” said Andrew Wilkinson, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak in New York. “You’re seeing job creation in the U.S. rather than businesses sitting and watching the crisis unfold in Europe.” To contact the reporter on this story: Catarina Saraiva in New York at asaraiva5@bloomberg.net

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