The dollar dropped to yet another 15-year low versus the yen and failed to fight back in a meaningful way against other majors on Friday, as the US economy hemorrhaged jobs in September.
While there remains little doubt that the Federal Reserve is ready to crank up the printing press to support the economy, traders may pause to assess the conditions elsewhere in the world before the continue to flock from the greenback.
The Labor Department report released earlier in the day showed that employment fell by 95,000 jobs in September following a revised decrease of 57,000 jobs in August.
The unemployment rate came in at 9.6 percent in September, unchanged from the previous month.
159,000 government jobs were cut, which reflected the departure of 77,000 temporary census workers as well as a decrease of 76,000 local government employment jobs.
On the other hand, private sector employment increased for the ninth consecutive month, rising by 64,000 jobs.
The dollar steadied near $1.3950 versus the euro, a modest improvement from an 8-month low of 1.4025.
Versus the sterling, the buck wobbled around $1.5950, near yesterday’s 8-month low of $1.6017.
The buck fell to a 15-year low of Y81.75 against yen, fueling speculation that Japanese officials are going to try a second intervention in as many months to weaken the yen. A strong yen hurts Japan’s export driven economy.
The previous attempt by at intervention by Japanese officials flopped, as did this week’s surprise rate cut and announcement of asset purchases by the nation’s central bank.