Forex News – USDJPY jumps after surprise drop in jobless claims
September 26, 2013 12:56 pm
The US dollar jumped against the yen on Thursday after data showed that initial job claims were down by 5000 last week to fall from 305,000 from 310,000. This surprised markets which expected a 325,000 increase in claims.
Jobs data have become increasingly important since the Federal Reserve is closely watching the labor market in order to be able to decide when to begin tapering its huge stimulus program. ($85 billion in monthly asset purchases).
Unemployment, while declining from 8.1 per cent one year ago, remains stubbornly high, even as the economy continues to add more than 150,000 jobs a month.
Separate data showed that US GDP grew at 2.5 percent in the second quarter, although 2.6 percent was expected.
US government spending cuts and increased taxes continue to weigh on consumers, keeping GDP from rising further.
USDJPY jumped from a pre-data 98.74 to 98.98 within 20 minutes of the data release at 8:30 am New York time.
Gold fell to $1,330.41 since the metal has an inverse relationship with the USD.
The US dollar jumped against the yen on Thursday after data showed that initial job claims were down by 5000 last week to fall from 305,000 from 310,000. This surprised markets which expected a 325,000 increase in claims.
Jobs data have become increasingly important since the Federal Reserve is closely watching the labor market in order to be able to decide when to begin tapering its huge stimulus program. ($85 billion in monthly asset purchases).
Unemployment, while declining from 8.1 per cent one year ago, remains stubbornly high, even as the economy continues to add more than 150,000 jobs a month.
Separate data showed that US GDP grew at 2.5 percent in the second quarter, although 2.6 percent was expected.
US government spending cuts and increased taxes continue to weigh on consumers, keeping GDP from rising further.
USDJPY jumped from a pre-data 98.74 to 98.98 within 20 minutes of the data release at 8:30 am New York time.
Gold fell to $1,330.41 since the metal has an inverse relationship with the USD.
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