USD up on jobs data

The US dollar strengthened Friday after the Labor Department reported that the United States economy lost fewer jobs than had been expected in July and on a report from the Institute for Supply Management which showed that while manufacturing did not expand in the US in July, neither did it contract.

In late morning trade in New York, the dollar traded at $1.5581 to the euro while it took ¥107.4650 to buy a dollar.

The shared currency, which was hurt by a report that German retail sales fell in June, also weakened in relation to the yen as it took ¥167.4465 to buy a euro.

The yen was helped by loss of investor interest in risky carry trades financed by the Japanese currency.

The pound weakened versus the US currency on new data showing that manufacturing declined in the UK, raising fears that the UK could be ready to enter a recession.

It took $1.9748 to buy a pound at around 11:15 a.m. in New York, while the UK currency traded at 78.90p to the euro.

The Australia and New Zealand dollar were also weaker in relation to the US dollar after new data showed that manufacturing activity slowed in Australia and that business confidence is down in New Zealand, with the Australian dollar trading at 93.32 cents US and the New Zealand dollar worth 72.84 cents US in late morning trade in New York.

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