US dollar falls after jobs data softens

Officials in Japan finally caught a break today as softening US fundamentals give them something of a tailwind following their work to intervene in the currency. USD/JPY is down 154 pips to 152.11 on the day, falling nearly 100 pips on the April non-farm payrolls report.

The decline in that pair is part of a broad wave of US dollar selling after the data, which saw the US create 175K jobs compared to 243K expected. The unemployment rate also ticked up to 3.9% from 3.8%.

The drop in the dollar has now completely erased gains from early in the week, when the market was worried about a hawkish FOMC pivot. Instead, it’s trading at three-week lows on most fronts.

AUD/USD has gone from the lowest since November to threatening a breakout to the highs of the year.

This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.