US dollar strengthens as yen, Swiss franc weaken

The US dollar strengthened this week on new, stronger than expected data from both the manufacturing and services sectors. On Friday, however, new data from the US Labor Department showed that unemployment was up to 4.5 percent in April while only 88,000 new jobs were created in the month. Still, the greenback added 0.3 percent to $1.9920 against sterling during the week, while it gained 0.4 percent to $1.2590 versus the euro and was up 0.5 percent to ¥120.10 in relation to the Japanese yen.

The yen, meanwhile, dropped 0.1 percent to ¥163.20 versus the euro over the week after hitting a new record low of ¥163.60 against the shared currency on Thursday. The Swiss franc also reached a record low in relation to the euro, falling to SFr1.6535 on Tuesday. The Swiss currency later gained back some of its losses, but it still ended the week having dropped 0.2 percent to SFr1.6460 in relation to the euro. It fell 0.6 percent to SFr1.2110 versus the US dollar.

The Australian dollar was 1.1 percent weaker in relation to the US dollar over the week, to a one-month low of $0.8210 after the Reserve Bank of Australia dropped its inflation forecast for the year.

Story link: US dollar strengthens as yen, Swiss franc weaken