FOREX-Dollar rises again on safe-haven bids; shrugs off poor U.S. jobs number

By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
Updated ·3 min read

* U.S. economy loses 701,00 jobs in March * Dollar index set to gain nearly 2.5% for the week * Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E (Adds U.S. jobs data, new analyst comment, FX table, updates prices, changes byline, dateline; previous LONDON) By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK, April 3 (Reuters) - The dollar resumed its climb against major currencies on Friday as investors took refuge in safety bids amid worsening economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. "As we see poor data coming in from Europe, UK, Italy, if you're trying to be rushing anywhere, it would be U.S. Treasuries and the U.S. dollar as a safe haven," said John Doyle, vice president of dealing and trading at Tempus Inc in Washington. The dollar largely shrugged off the U.S. non-farm payrolls report that showed massive job losses of 701,000 last month, compared with expectations of 100,000 lost employment. March's job contraction abruptly ended historic 113 straight months of employment growth. The Labor Department also February's number to 275,000 job gains. The unemployment rate rose to 4.4% from 3.5% the previous month. "Today's jobs number and yesterday's jobless claims report paint a picture of how bad things can actually be," Doyle said. "But we're expecting things to be very poor, which is why you're seeing limited reaction in the currency market so far." U.S. initial claims for unemployment benefits rose to 6.65 million in the latest week from an unrevised 3.3 million the previous week. The figures far exceeded the median estimate of 3.50 million in a Reuters survey of economists. In mid-morning trading, the U.S. dollar index was up 0.6% at 100.78. The index was is on course for a near 2.5% gain over the week, having whipsawed last month from highs on a scramble for cash before slumping as the U.S. Federal Reserve flooded the market with liquidity. The Japanese yen, Swiss franc, euro, sterling and the Australian and New Zealand dollars all also lost ground as the dollar strengthened across the board.. ======================================================== Currency bid prices at 9:08AM (1308 GMT) Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid Previous Change Session Euro/Dollar EUR= $1.0782 $1.0856 -0.68% -3.82% +1.0864 +1.0776 Dollar/Yen JPY= 108.5700 107.9000 +0.62% -0.27% +108.6700 +107.8100 Euro/Yen EURJPY= 117.07 117.13 -0.05% -4.00% +117.3800 +116.7400 Dollar/Swiss CHF= 0.9783 0.9736 +0.48% +1.08% +0.9795 +0.9729 Sterling/Dollar GBP= 1.2249 1.2392 -1.15% -7.62% +1.2410 +1.2244 Dollar/Canadian CAD= 1.4132 1.4131 +0.01% +8.82% +1.4224 +1.4116 Australian/Doll AUD= 0.5997 0.6059 -1.02% -14.57% +0.6075 +0.5981 ar Euro/Swiss EURCHF= 1.0551 1.0566 -0.14% -2.77% +1.0577 +1.0544 Euro/Sterling EURGBP= 0.8800 0.8754 +0.53% +4.09% +0.8808 +0.8742 NZ NZD= 0.5856 0.5916 -1.01% -13.06% +0.5922 +0.5844 Dollar/Dollar Dollar/Norway NOK= 10.4421 10.3582 +0.81% +18.98% +10.4619 +10.3830 Euro/Norway EURNOK= 11.2623 11.2798 -0.16% +14.48% +11.3347 +11.2306 Dollar/Sweden SEK= 10.1752 10.0744 -0.06% +8.86% +10.1799 +10.0928 Euro/Sweden EURSEK= 10.9702 10.9769 -0.06% +4.79% +10.9810 +10.9250 (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss Editing by Nick Zieminski)