The US dollar jumped against the Japanese yen today on the back of positive economic reports from the United States. The currency also rose against the Great Britain pound and erased earlier losses versus the euro.
Today’s US employment data was welcomed by dollar bulls. While initial jobless claims rose last week more than was expected, the four-week average fell to the lowest level since May 2000. Continuing claims also reached the lowest level in 14 years. The Conference Board leading indicators were up 0.8 percent in September.
The positive reports reinforced the view that the Federal Reserve is going to raise interest rates earlier than the central banks of other developed nations. This allowed the greenback to gain on other currencies, though the euro was too strong after positive data from Europe, resulting in sideways trading for EUR/USD.
EUR/USD traded little changed at 1.2648 as of 23:17 GMT today. GBP/USD went down from 1.6050 to 1.6031, reaching the daily low of 1.5994. USD/JPY jumped from 107.13 to 108.16.
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