Jobs data sends US dollar lower

Story link: Jobs data sends US dollar lower

The US dollar was weaker Friday after the Labor Department reported that 240,000 jobs were lost in the United States in October, more than expected.

1.2 million jobs have been lost since the beginning of 2008, with over half of the losses coming in the past three months.

The Labor Department also reported that the unemployment rate was up to 6.5 percent in October, from 6.1 percent in September, its highest since 1994 and higher than it was at any time during the recession of 2001.

This bad news came on top of a report Thursday that 3.843 million people in the US got an unemployment check during the week ending 25 October, the highest number to get checks in a week in 25 years.

In late morning trade in New York, the dollar traded at $1.2789 to the euro while it cost ¥98.125 to buy a dollar.

The Canadian dollar was also up versus the greenback, trading at C$1.1766 to the US dollar after Statistics Canada reported that the number of jobs there went up by 9,500 in October against an expected decrease of 10,000 jobs in the month.