RTTN: Yen Sharply Falls As U.S. Unemployment Rate Drops
(RTTNews) - The Japanese yen staged a sharp fall against major currencies after the release of the U.S. non-farm payrolls and unemployment rate data for the month of September at about 8:30 am ET Friday.
The Labor Department released a report today showed that employment increased by 114,000 jobs in September following an upwardly revised increase of 142,000 jobs in August. Economists had expected employment to increase by 113,000 jobs compared to the addition of 96,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
The continued job growth pushed the unemployment rate down to 7.8 percent in September from 8.1 percent in August. The drop surprised economists, who had expected the unemployment rate to come in unchanged.
With the unexpected decrease, the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since hitting a matching rate in January of 2009.
As of now, the yen is trading near more than 2-week lows of 78.83 against the US dollar, 127.77 versus the pound, 80.82 against the loonie, 102.66 versus the euro and 84.71 against the franc.
The Japanese currency also declined further against the Australian and NZ dollars and presently trading at fresh multi-day lows of 80.88 and 65.13, respectively.
