Investing.com - The dollar declined Friday as a dip in U.S. wages in the Labor Department’s November jobs report confounded forex traders. The dollar closed at 1.0667 versus the euro. On Thursday, the figure was 1.0661.
The US Dollar Index was down during the trading day 0.3% to 91.30.The dollar dropped against the yen, but stayed steady against the pound and the euro.
The U.S. Labor Department reported non-farm payrolls increased by a seasonally adjusted 178,000 last month from October, whilst the unemployment rate dropped to 4.6%, its lowest level in nearly a decade.
Average hourly earnings fell 0.1% from October, while year-over-year wage growth slowed to 2.5% from 2.8% growth in October, according to the federal labor department report, released this morning.
But market sentiment concentrated the surprising monthly decline in private-sector wages, driving the greenback lower against the USD/JPY, the GBP/USD, and the EUR/USD.
The yen had been falling, by as much as 8%, against the dollar, during the previous two weeks, in the wake of the U.S. presidential election, which saw Donald Trump, the Republican populist, defeat Democratic insider and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Clinton and a proxy had called for a recount of the vote in the state of Wisconsin, and the former First Lady is said to have gained one vote as a result of that very controversial endeavor.