It was a busy, mixed afternoon for US data, one that the dollar seemingly ended up deciding was broadly positive.
While the headline non-farm figure rocketed higher from the hurricane-hit (but upwards revised) 18k in September to 261k in October, that was markedly lower than the blockbuster 312k expected by analysts. The (arguably more important) wage growth reading also came in worse than forecast, plunging from 0.5% to 0.0% month-on-month. Yet any disappointment was tempered by the unemployment rate, which fell to a 17 year low of 4.1%. Elsewhere an underperforming Markit services PMI, which arrived at 55.3 against the initial 55.9 estimate, was countered by a stellar ISM number, at 60.1 against the 59.8 forecast.
After a bit of a wobble post-jobs report that ISM services PMI seemed to swing things in favour of the dollar, which rose 0.4% against the euro and 0.3% against the yen. Only against the pound did the greenback struggle, and even then it held onto almost all of Thursday’s hefty gains. As for the Dow Jones, the index was pretty flat after the bell, though is still at a 23500-plus all-time high following Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) Q4-inspired rise.
Though the pound couldn’t make any great inroads against the dollar, rising just 0.1%, against the euro it had more successful, climbing half a percent to re-cross €1.125. This helped erase the FTSE 100 early growth, meaning the UK index may struggle to close at the record high it was promising during the morning’s trading.
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