The U.S. dollar moved up on Friday as prospects of aggressive rate cuts by the Federal Reserve in its upcoming meeting faded after data from the Labor Department showed a much bigger than addition of jobs in non-farm payroll employment in September.
Data from the Labor Department showed that non-farm payroll employment jumped by 254,000 jobs in September after climbing by an upwardly revised 159,000 jobs in August. Economists had expected employment to rise by 140,000 jobs compared to the addition of 142,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
The report also showed the unemployment rate edged down to 4.1% in September from 4.2% in August. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged.
The stronger than expected jobs growth eased concerns about the economic outlook, but dashed hopes of aggressive rate cuts in the coming months.
Following the jobs data, CME Groups FedWatch Tool is indicating a 91.2% the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point in November and just a 8.8% chance of another half point rate cut.
Gina Bolvin, President of Bolvin Wealth Management Group (Boston, MA) is of the view that the strong jobs report lowers expectations for a 0.5% cut in November. Bolvin says that with oil prices surging higher due to Middle East tensions, and average hourly earnings rising, the Fed may worry about inflation rearing its ugly head.
Jamie Cox, Managing Partner for Harris Financial Group, is also of the view that it will be hard to justify a 0.5% rate cut in November with employment data like this. Jeffrey Roach, Chief Economist for LPL Financial feels the solid jobs data increases the odds that the economy will continue to grow above the trend in the next quarter, and that the Fed will cut by a quarter point at the next few meetings.
The dollar index rose to 102.69 before paring some gains and dropping to 102.50, still very much in positive territory with a gain of 0.5%.
Against the Euro, the dollar firmed to 1.0977 from 1.1033. Against Pound Sterling, the dollar strengthened to 1.3125.
The dollar climbed against the Japanese currency, fetching 148.72 yen a unit. Against the Aussie, the dollar firmed to 0.6793.
The Swiss franc weakened to 0.8581 a unit of U.S. dollar, while the Loonie settled at 1.3576 a unit of the U.S. currency, giving up nearly 0.2%.