Dollar Rises Amid Fading Prospects Of Fed Rate Cuts
(RTTNews) - The U.S. Dollar climbed higher on Monday, scoring over some of its major counterparts, amid waning prospects of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve this month. Last week's upbeat U.S. jobs data has raised the possibility of the central bank going slow on rate cuts.
Data from the Labor Department Friday showed U.S. non-farm payroll employment surged by 256,000 in December, after jumping by a downwardly revised 212,000 jobs in November.
Economists had expected employment to climb by 160,000 jobs compared to the addition of 227,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
The unemployment rate in the U.S. edged down to 4.1% in December from 4.2% in November. The rate was expected to come in unchanged.
The dollar index, which advanced to 110.18 in the European session, eased a bit as the day progressed, but still remained well above the flat line at 109.82 a little while ago, gaining 0.16%.
Against the Euro, the dollar strengthened to 1.0224 from 1.0255. The dollar firmed to 1.2181 against Pound Sterling, gaining from 1.2206.
Against the Japanese currency, the dollar weakened to 157.59 yen from 157.70 yen. The dollar eased to 0.6163 against the Aussie.
Against Swiss franc, the dollar firmed, fetching CHF 0.9178 a unit, compared to previous close of CHF 0.9165. Against the Loonie, the dollar weakened to C$ 1.4399 from C$ 1.4433 as oil prices rose sharply following U.S. sanctions on Russian oil.