Euro Rises, but Yen Falls

Traders brushed off a favorable jobs report Friday and marked the greenback down as crude prices resumed their rise.

The euro was selling for $1.4494, up from $1.4437 late Thursday, and the pound was trading at $2.0839, up from $2.0787 at the end of the prior session. The Canadian dollar was buying $1.07 vs. $1.0512 previously.

"Right now the dollar is the mirror of oil and is on the run," says Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services in Pittsburgh. "Traders are ignoring some economic fundamentals."

The Labor Department said the U.S. economy added jobs at over twice the rate expected during October, a data point which would normally have been expected to buoy the dollar relative to other currencies, explains Hoffman. But this time the focus was on the negative economic impact of rising oil prices.

In general, higher energy costs tend to eat away profit margins and slow down economic growth. Stock traders seemed to be focusing on that aspect, drawing down the major indices in line with the value of the dollar.

Other new data showed better-than-expected factory orders for September.

Elsewhere in the foreign-exchange market, the dollar was buying 115.94 Japanese yen, up from 114.53 yen previously. The Australian dollar was strengthening, with the greenback buying AU$1.0859, down from AU$1.0942.