Dollar Hits Seven-Month High vs. Yen
By Omer Esiner of Travelex
The dollar firmed in quiet overnight trade ahead of the highly anticipated U.S. jobs report and traded near the higher end of its overnight range after the government reported a 162,000 increase in nonfarm payrolls. It also hit a seven-month high against the yen.
With most of the world's financial markets closed for Good Friday, light volumes kept major trading ranges very narrow. Still, the greenback managed to trim recent losses as investors flattened out their books ahead of the government release.
Although the gain in nonfarm payrolls was less than the average forecast, March still marked the first significant net creation of new jobs since the start of the recession in late 2007.
The job growth could revive speculation of
Fed
policy normalization sooner than expected and provide the impetus for the greenback's push back toward last week's 10-month trade-weighted peak, especially amid a backdrop of very thin and illiquid markets.
USD
: The U.S. economy added a net 162,000 new jobs in March, less than market forecasts for about 190,000. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.7%, exactly as expected. With only 48,000 census workers added last month, the overall creation of 162,000 new jobs represents a solid improvement in the labor market and the biggest gain since May 2007. February saw a slight upward revision to payrolls. The dollar was mostly unmoved near the higher end of its narrow overnight ranges after the report.
JPY
: USD/JPY rose to a seven-month peak as Japanese investors wound down their fiscal year-end capital repatriations and looked to take advantage of higher yields abroad. The yen should remain undermined by the view that the BOJ will lag all other major banks in policy normalization.
Omer Esiner serves as the Senior Currency Market Analyst at Travelex, Inc. a global financial institution specializing in corporate foreign exchange services and international payment solutions. In this capacity, he monitors, analyzes and interprets the economic, financial, political and technical factors that drive the movements of more than 100 currencies for Travelex. Mr. Esiner explains the currency markets' reaction to market events to clients, employees and members of the media.
You can view his daily reports, recording briefings, and quarterly reviews posted
. As an expert in foreign exchange, Mr. Esiner is quoted regularly by the financial media including The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Dow Jones Newswires, Reuters, the Nightly Business Report, National Public Radio, among others. Based in Washington, D.C., Esiner joined Travelex in February 2000. Prior to his current position, Esiner was a currency trader for several years. Mr. Esiner holds a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Maryland, College Park. He is fluent in Turkish and proficient in Spanish.