IV:Dollar broadly higher vs. rivals on U.S. jobs data
Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was broadly higher against the other major currencies on Monday, after U.S. employment data on Friday suggested the economy is improving but not enough to persuade the Federal Reserve to start scaling back its stimulus program.
During European morning trade, the dollar was steady against the euro, with EUR/USD easing 0.05% to 1.3215.
The dollar remained supported after official data on Friday showed that the U.S. economy added 175,000 jobs last month, slightly more than the 170,000 gain forecast by economists. The unemployment rate ticked up to 7.6% from 7.5% in April.
The data indicated that the economic recovery in the U.S is on track but is not strong enough for the Federal Reserve to begin unwinding its USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program.
In the euro zone, the Sentix investor confidence index improved to minus 11.6 in June, from a reading of minus 15.6 the previous month, compared to expectations for an improvement to minus 10.0.
Also Monday, official data showed that French industrial production rose 2.2% in April, beating expectations for a 0.3% gain, after a 0.6% decline the previous month.
The greenback was higher against the pound, with GBP/USD declining 0.25% to 1.5518.
Elsewhere, the greenback was higher against the yen and the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY rallying 1.22% to trade at 98.73, and with USD/CHF adding 0.15% to 0.9373.
In Japan, revised data on Monday showed that the economy expanded by 1.0% in the first quarter, up from a preliminary estimate of 0.9%.
A separate report showed that the country posted a larger-than-forecast current account surplus in April, as the weaker yen boosted the value of income from overseas investments.
Meanwhile, official data showed that retail sales in Switzerland rose by an annualized rate of 3.3% in April, after a 0.8% decline the previous month, beating expectations for a 2.4% rise.
The greenback was mixed to higher against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD edging down 0.10% to 1.0186, AUD/USD dropping 0.71% to 0.9423 and NZD/USD dipping 0.01% to 0.7877.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.25% to 82.13.