U.S. Nonfarm jobs drop by 524k in December. Unemployment rate hits 16-year high. US Dollar gains in Currency Trading today. | CountingPips Forex Blog

January 9, 2009 - Forex Economic News

U.S. Nonfarm jobs drop by 524k in December. Unemployment rate hits 16-year high. US Dollar gains in Currency Trading today.

U.S. Nonfarm Payrolls employment data released today showed that jobs fell by more than 500,000 for the second straight month in December. The Department of Labor nonfarm payrolls report showed that U.S. payrolls shed 524,000 jobs in December following a revised drop of 584,000 jobs in November. The November payrolls data had originally showed a US Dollar gains in Currency Trading decline of 533,000 jobs and the number of job losses total in 2008 extended to 2.6 million. The two months straight of over 500,000 jobs lost marked a first in the history of the government report. December's jobs data surpassed economic forecasts that were expecting a job loss of approximately 500,000 workers for the month.

December was the twelveth straight month that companies have shed workers and brought the unemployment rate to 7.2 percent which is the highest level since January 1993. The unemployment rate increase also surpassed market forecasts expecting the rate to increase to 7.0 percent as the unemployment rate has increased by 2.3 percent since December 2007.

The goods producing sector continued to be the hard hit by job losses in December as the manufacturing sector cut 149,000 jobs and the construction sector lost 101,000 jobs. The service-providing sector lost 273,000 jobs with professional & business services shedding 113,000 workers and retail trade cutting 67,000 workers. Education and health services led the way in job creation in December adding 45,000 jobs while government employment also added 7,000 jobs.

US Dollar gaining in Currency Trading today.

The dollar has made gains in currency trading today despite the dismal job report today as the U.S. currency has gained against the pound, euro, loonie, aussie and Swiss franc while declining versus the yen.

The euro has been weaker versus the dollar today as the EUR/USD has declined from its 1.3647 opening(00:00 GMT) to trading at 1.3440 in the afternoon of the U.S. trading session at 1:39pm EST. The British pound is falling for the first day this week today as the GBP/USD has declined from its 1.5186 opening exchange rate to trading at 1.5130 usd per gbp.

The dollar has fallen versus the Japanese yen and trading at 90.29 after opening at 91.27. The dollar has advanced today versus the Canadian loonie as the USD/CAD trades at the exchange rate of 1.1914 from its 1.1853 opening.

The dollar has gained against the Swiss franc as the USD/CHF trades at 1.1148 after opening at 1.0959 today for a gain of almost 200 pips. The dollar has also been stronger against the Australian dollar and been virtually unchanged versus the New Zealand dollar. The AUD/USD trades at 0.7042 after a 0.7071 opening while the NZD/USD trades at 0.5920 today after opening at the exchange rate of 0.5921.

USD/CHF Chart - The US Dollar gaining today against the Swiss Franc and extending above its 21 day moving average. (Daily Chart).

Today's Forex Chart

tags: nonfarm payrolls, us jobs, employment, currency trading

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