Australian dollar soars after better-than-expected GDP
By Deborah Levine and Lisa Twaronite , MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The dollar lost ground Wednesday, especially against the Japanese yen and Swiss franc, after a pair of U.S. economic reports showed more weakness in the jobs market and manufacturing than economists expected, raising worries about the strength of the country’s recovery.
The dollar index DXY -0.29% , which measures the U.S. unit against a basket of six major currencies, slipped to 74.413 from 74.514 before the ADP data and from 74.611 in late North American trading Tuesday.
Among the more notable moves after the ADP data, the Japanese yen and Swiss franc strengthened against the euro and dollar. Both are low-yielding currencies where gains often signal investors are moving back toward safe havens and away from riskier assets.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar USDYEN -0.7976% bought ¥80.76, down from ¥81.49 late Tuesday.
The euro EURYEN -0.5370% fell to buy ¥116.61 down from ¥118.19.
The dollar USDSWF -1.5572% dropped 1.4% against the Swiss franc to buy 83.96 centimes. One hundred centimes equal one Swiss franc.
The greenback touched a record low of 83.81 centimes.
The euro EURCHF -1.3174% lost 1.5% against the swissie to 1.2109 Swiss francs. It touched a record low of 1.2084 francs.
Against the dollar, the euro EURUSD +0.2710% turned up to buy $1.4432, up from the day’s low of $1.4383 and from $1.4385 Tuesday. See real-time currency quotes and tools.
Payroll-processing company ADP said the U.S. economy added 38,000 private jobs in May, far fewer than the 175,000 economists expected. Read about ADP jobs data.
“That is a shockingly bad ADP number,” said Tom di Galoma, managing director of government securities at Oppenheimer & Co.
The data came two days before the more closely followed monthly Labor Department employment report, which includes government jobs. Economists polled by MarketWatch expect Friday’s payrolls report to show a gain of 175,000 jobs, which would still be slower than the 244,000 added in April.
“It is a warning shot across the bow that job growth is also weakening along with the other high-frequency numbers,” said Eric Green, chief market economist at TD Securities Inc.
The Institute for Supply Management said its index of manufacturing activity fell to 53.5 in April, weaker than economists expected. See story on ISM manufacturing.
