Currencies

Dollar whipsaws after big jobs report beat

A man looks at exchange rates at a currency exchange center in New York July 6, 2015.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters

The dollar whipsawed Friday in choppy trading on the view that the much stronger-than-expected U.S. non-farm payrolls report will not persuade the Federal Reserve just yet to raise interest rates again this year.

The U.S. currency did rise immediately after the U.S. jobs data, reversing losses against the yen and climbing to two-week highs against the euro and a five-week peak versus the Swiss franc. But those gains evaporated and the dollar traded mostly flat on the day.

Data showed that non-farm payrolls increased by 287,000 jobs last month, the largest gain since last October. May's payroll count was revised down to only 11,000 from the previously reported 38,000.

"Although the Federal Reserve will take encouragement from this vital data, they simply aren't in a position to consider a rate hike at the moment," said Dennis de Jong, managing director at UFX.com in Limassol, Cyprus.

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"There is still huge uncertainty around the world but the U.S. economy has at least taken a step in the right direction here."

Fed funds futures, based on the CME Group's FedWatch, have not priced in a rate increase this year and for much of 2017. The futures data has priced in a 31.5 percent chance that the Fed will increase rates at the June 2017 meeting.

The dollar dipped 0.2 percent against the yen to 100.55 .

The euro, meanwhile, was 0.2 percent lower at $1.104. It earlier fell to $1.1003, a two-week low, after the jobs data.

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The dollar gained 0.47 percent against the Swiss franc to 0.9827 franc. The greenback earlier rose to a high of 0.9867 franc following the jobs data.