Jobs Report Sends Dollar Lower (UUP)

The U.S. dollar is down against most major currencies Friday afternoon, after a U.S. jobs report came in much better than expected. The PowerShares US Dollar Index (NYSE: UUP) is down 0.46% today, to $23.80.

U.S. non-farm payrolls fell 54,000, the Labor Department said this morning, a much smaller drop than expectations of a decline of 100,000.

According to a Reuters report, "Optimism about the economy, however, faded slightly after separate data showed the U.S. non-manufacturing sector grew at a slower-than-expected pace in August and that the sector's employment shrank that month."

Michael Woolfolk, senior currency strategist at BNY Mellon in New York, explained the reaction to Reuters.

"This does take some of the shine off of today's better-than-expected payrolls report."

Some investors remained skeptical about the U.S. economy's slow recovery. Fabian Eliasson, vice president of currency sales at Mizuho Corporate Bank in New York, weighed in with Reuters.

"Just as trading on the bad U.S. data recently was overdone, I think sentiment on this week's positive reports is also going to be overdone. You have a lot of people unemployed, so it's a long way back to normal."

The Euro is trading up 0.5% today, to $1.289, with the Pound up 0.4% to $1.544. The dollar is slightly higher against the Yen, to 84.33.

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